Becca Schimmel
Contributing writer
Racers Got Talent is a halftime competition show performed at the men’s basketball games. The contest is in its second year and is sponsored by BB&T bank.
There are currently four participants in the running. The Suspensions, a male a cappella group, and individual singers, Kaitlin Cleven, Amber Woolery and Ellie Rodenberg remain in the contest.
There were 18 acts altogether, 16 of them were chosen by a panel of three judges and two of them were chosen by voting on Facebook for Fan Favorites.
These contestants have been narrowed down after each round of basketball game performances. The students who remained were voted on by their peers on goracers.com.
The winner receives a $500 cash reward from BB&T. The prize will be given at the last men’s home game on Saturday, Feb. 18.
Voting for the final two finalists closed on Tuesday and they were announced at the basketball game on Thursday.
The top two acts will be performing at Saturday’s basketball game and online voting will determine the ultimate winner.
The competition allows students to share their hidden and exposed talents with their fellow student Racer fans. Their prerecorded performances are posted on goracers.com for fans to view before voting.
Like the television show, “Americas Got Talent,” competitors can have any talent to compete with, not only singing.
“It has been beneficial in the sense that I’m usually really shy when it comes to singing and it has helped me grow in that sense,” Amber Woolery, freshman from Shelbyville, Ky., said.
“It’s really a combination of talent and networking because the people that go to these games where the videos are broadcast, they’re not Murray State students but they see these acts and they vote for them because they want to be entertained by them at that live show in February,” Elizabeth Costy, coordinator of the event and marketing assistant for Racer Athletics, said.
Marshall Shank, graduate student from Owensboro, Ky., won Racers Got Talent last year with his hip hop arrangement of ‘Amazing Grace’ on the flute. More than 12,000 votes were cast during last year’s competition.
Interested students can expect to see Racers Got Talent return next fall for the third year.