There were no seats left in Alumni Hall Friday night as students gathered in the back to watch the 7th annual Mr. Quinnipiac contest. Eleven strapping young lads took part in this male beauty pageant in the hopes of not only winning the hearts of the judges and fans, but being crowned the 2005 Mr. Quinnipiac.
Freshman business major Andy Mayer from Trumbull, used charm, his sparkling personality and an outstanding sense of humor to beat the other contestants. Throughout the competition, members of the crowd chanted his name to show support and the entire crowd roared with laughter during the talent competition, in which Mayer did a dance medley wearing light blue pants, an orange tie and velcro shoes.
“The contest was all about having fun,” Mayer said. “I mean, having college guys walk on stage trying to do a dance to MC Hammer and walking out in their pj’s is going to spark a laugh from the crowd. When it came time to the talents, the crowd was in for a real treat. I wanted to make eveeryone laugh but enjoy the performance at the same time.”
Judges Tyrone Black, Daniel Brown, JoLynn Hamilton, Scott Hazan and Tamirack Reilly sat front and center and laughed out loud while keeping score during the casual wear, beach wear, sleep wear, formal wear, and talent rounds of the tough competition.
Senior journalism major Nate Sharir came in second and Brian Simons, sophomore physical therapy major ,came in third. Sharir charmed the crowd with his pick up line, telling his escort “If I was Peter Pan, you would be my happy thought,” and he got the crowd singing “Afternoon Delight” in the talent portion. Simons impressed and entertained the crowd with his hysterical interpretive dance based on Quinnipiac and wooed his escort into letting him hold her hand during the formal wear portion.
Other competitors included seniors Brendan McKeon, Jesse Daunno, Conor O’Brien, Jimmy Stewart and Anthony Vindigni, sophomores Wesley Shay and Tom Fritz and freshman Daniel Baker. During the talent portion, the contestants danced, read poetry, did stand-up comedy and played the saxophone.
The crowd cheered at the opening act when all eleven guys came on stage in jeans and tight white t-shirts and danced to a boy band-palooza, and Fritz got the crowd excited when he came out in beach-wear and had the right side of Alumni start “The Wave.”
“I personally liked the sleep wear portion of the contest best because it was a new edition that has never been done before,” said Vindigni, who walked across the stage in red longs johns and Pooh ears.
Mr. Quinnipiac was sponsored by the Student Programming Board and the Special Events Committee. Dance Company and Dance Mode also showed their talent during the competition as well.
All who attended left with smiles, but Mayer was the one to leave with the crown.
“I may have won the crowd with my dancing ability, but Nate won every girls’ heart in the crowd with his sincere words,” Mayer said.
