Fifteen men strutted their stuff for Murray State during the 33rd annual Mr. MSU competition. The contestants competed in formal wear and talent categories in Alpha Omicron Pi’s Sports Illustrated themed competition.
Miranda Sexton, Alpha Omicron Pi president and Sumer Starks, Mr. MSU director, helped pull off the competition.
Prior to the show, AOPi sponsored a cookout to help sell tickets.
“This is the first cookout before the show and it has been a success for Alpha Omicron Pi and the Mr. MSU competition,” Haley Stewart, head chairman of Alpha Omicron Pi, said.
AOPi’s philanthropy is the Arthritis Foundation.
The foundation invites involvement via fundraising, donations, media relations and consumer information. It accepts private and public funding, but its ultimate goal is to make sure that, mild or severe, arthritis patients are taken care of.
According to the Arthritis Foundation website, Juvenile Arthritis is a deadly disease that can impair physical movement from the joints in children of sixteen or younger. This can cause severe pain for many children, including swelling for at least six weeks.
Mr. MSU raises money annually for the Juvenile Arthritis Foundation and raised more than $10,000 this year during the competition.
“Mr. MSU is a lot of fun to watch and is annual at Murray State,” Stewart said. “We did this cookout for donations for the ‘best legs’ competition, and we took donations all week in the Curris Center.”
During the award ceremony, Corey Tucker, senior from Hardinsburg, Ky., won 3rd runner up, most photogenic and crowd favorite. JC Aponte, junior from Clarksville, Tenn., won 2nd runner up. Macon Borne, senior from Henderson, Ky., won 1st runner up, Mr. Congeniality and best legs. Tyler Glosson was announced Mr. MSU 2013.
“I was truly amazed and absolutely surprised at the decision the judges made,” Glosson said. “I knew the crowd liked my talent portion, but wasn’t sure if I had a chance at winning.”
These 15 men put time into planning their steps when it came to their performances.
“We spent an entire week practicing our opening performance,” he said. “We were also asked to meet with the three judges the day of the competition. There, we participated in an interview where they could get to know us better.”
Glosson now has his brothers of Alpha Gamma Rho to thank for his title.
“As most everyone knew, I’m a member of Alpha Gamma Rho,” Glosson said. “My whole chapter pushed me to represent them because they believed I had a shot. I accepted because I knew it would go to a great cause.”
Story by McKenzie Willet, Contributing Writer