Into the Semifinals

The first round is complete and the semifinals are now set. Soccer player Shanelle Furner (13 t0 5) and diver Jo Thibodaux (13 to 3), the first and second seed respectively, easily advanced to the semifinals. The other two match-ups were much closer. In the closest match of the 1st round, water polo player Kelsi Okuda edged gymnast Shanice Howard 9 votes to 8 to advance to the semifinals where she will face Shanelle Furner. On the bottom half of the bracket, sixth seeded cross countrier Victoria Smith upset volleyballer Sarah McAtee 1o votes to 7 to also advance to the semis where she will face Jo Thibodaux for a chance to compete in the championship. Voting for the semifinals will last through the week.

In other Spartan news, the football team took an early 3 point lead in the LA Memorial Coliseum against the Trojans of USC, however the tides quickly turned as USC true-freshman starting QB Matt Barkley and USC RBs Joe McKnight and Stafon Johnson settled in and got comfortable. USC rattled off 56 unanswered points and secured the win for their cry baby coach Pete Carroll in his first game since happily and proudly sending off Mark Sanchez to the NFL.

The Stage is Set

The play in matches are complete and our Elite 8 is set. Golfer Shraddhanjali Singh defeated basketballer Aumornai Edinburgh to earn the right to face to Shanelle Furner and tennis player Jennifer Williams defeated softball player Alexandria Galusha to set up a match-up vs. Jo Thibodaux. Opening round match-ups begin today and will last for 3 days. The Elite 8 match-ups are below:

Elite 8 Matches
Vote on the Elite 8 match-ups in the right hand column beginning today.

And for everyone who is tracking the great Mark Reynolds, he hit another HR today to bring his season total to 40!

Game, Set and Match

And the last finalist is. . .

Jennifer Williams with 6 total votes.

Jennifer narrowly defeated Cassandra Borjon (below left - 5 votes) for the title of 2009 best looking SJSU tennis player. Also competing were Sanda Hadzisabic (below middle) and Olivia Marshall (below right). With the win, Jennifer will join our 9 other finalists in the SJSU Tournament of Champions beginning today.

The Tourament of Champions Match-ups are below and voting for the play in matches (of which there are two) will begin today and last for 48 hours. At that time we will launch out voting for the first round matches.

Play In Matches
#8 Seed - Shraddhanjali Singh (Golf) vs. #9 Seed - Aumornai Edinburgh (Basketball)

#7 Seed - Jennifer Williams (Tennis) vs. #10 Seed - Alexandria Gusha (Softball)

Round 1 Matches

#1 Seed - Shanelle Furner (Soccer) vs. Winner of #8 vs #9 play-in match

#4 Seed - Shanice Howard (Gymnastics) vs. #5 Seed - Kelsi Okuda (Water Polo)

#3 Seed - Sarah McAtee (Volleyball) vs. #6 Seed - Victoria Smith (Cross Country)

#2 Seed - Jo Thibodaux (Swimming/Diving) vs. Winner of #7 vs #10 play-in match

Diver or swimmer?

And the winner is. . .

Jo Thibodaux! The 5'9" diver from Alvin, TX took the title of SJSU's most awesome outwardly beautiful swimmer/diver. Thibodaux tallied 4 total votes, which easily gained her the title over Heather Denman (below top left - 0 votes), Erin Garcia (below top right - 1 vote), Ally Jack (below bottom left - 2 votes) and Jessica Holden (below bottom right - 2 votes).

With the win Thibodaux joins an elite group of SJSU athletes who will be competing for the title of 2008-09 best looking SJSU athlete in the coming weeks. The final participant in the hunt for the title will be determined by next Monday in the final poll that is available today. After the voting is complete for the tennis team, we will dive into the final matchups before crowning the champion.

Also, with football practice starting today, don't forget to begin checking back a bit more often to see updates for the Spartan football team as they begin their quest for the 2009-10 WAC title (well, at least maybe we can beat LA Tech this year).

Walk Off Win

The SJSU softball team has just qualified its winner for the most anticipated competition of the year. With five votes, Alexandria Galusha (pic below) joins an elite group of SJSU athletes in the finals for the title of most awesomely, outwardly beautiful female athlete of the 2008-09 season.

Alexandria topped Amanda Pridmore (2 votes - below left), Liz Robertson (2 votes - below middle) and Mallory Blair (1 vote - below right) to earn the softball title.

Out next finalist will come from the SJSU Swimming and Diving team. Please check back shortly and vote for your choice to help us crown the Swimming and Diving winner.

Water Polo Winner!

With football season just around the corner I've decided to resume my Team 4 Life postings a bit more regularly. Plus, I want to get this 2008-09 contest done before all of the associated athletes are dispersed among us working folk and can't really appreciate their accomplishments as the official Team 4 Life Best Looking SJSU athletes.

So, the results from the Water Polo team (that's right, we have a Water Polo team) are as follows:

#1 - Kelsi Okuda (3 votes)

#2 - Natalie Jennings (2 votes)

#3 (t) - Juliet Moss(l) and Katie Buzzetta(r) (1 vote each)














With the win Kelsi Okude will move to the 2008-09 finals, joining the six student-athletes that are already there. They include Shanelle Furner (Soccer), Aumornai Edinburgh (Basketball), Sarah McAtee (Volleyball), Victoria Smith (Cross Country), Shraddhanjali Singh (Golf), and Shanice Howard (Gymnastics). The sports that remain to be determined are softball (next up), swimming and diving, and tennis. Ensure you are checking out the right hand column and voting on your favorite player from the 2009 softball team.

Over a month. . .

. . . but we're back. Steve got me motivated with his posting and I thought it was time to continue our path to the SJSU best looking athlete (before they take all of the 2008-09 pictures down). So, the winner from the gymnastics team was Shanice Howard (below - 3 votes).

Shanice edged Katie Valleau (below left - 2 votes) and Renae "Don't call me a world poker champ" Moneymaker (below right - 2 votes).

In more significant Spartan news, the baseball team had a disappointing 10-9 loss in the WAC tournament to New Mexico State, which eliminated them from the WAC tournament and an automatic bid into the NCAA Regions. They awaited their fate and hoped their prayers for an at large berth would be answered, however, it wasn't to be, and the Spartan baseball team had to call it a year. The Spartans were the WAC regular season champions with a conference record of 15-7. They had a total record of 41-20. Congrats to the baseball team on a great year!

Next up for our path to the finals will be the water polo team. Make sure your vote gets counted!