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Sophomore wins Mr. Eagle pageant
After hula performance, McCreary wins Mr. Eagle title
May 12, 2017
The slapping of thighs echoed throughout the Pavilion as 12 of the school’s most eligible contestants gyrated through a rendition of “The Jingle Bell Rock.”
On Thursday, March 30, males from all four grade levels participated in the Mr. Eagle pageant in an attempt to snatch the top prize: the title of “Mr. Eagle 2017.”
Sophomore Cole McCreary was crowned this year’s Mr. Eagle. Junior Jake Iazzetta placed second, and sophomore Jeremy Orriss placed third.
The pageant comprised an individual talent portion, a group dance and a Q&A segment.
In the talent portion, each of the individual contestants flaunted their skills, which ranged from martial arts and ribbon-dancing to “hamboning” and stand-up comedy.
Senior Josh Weisberg rolled around on a hover board while lip-syncing to D4L’s 2005 hit “Laffy Taffy.”
“I think my performance was flawless, with no weaknesses,” Weisberg said. He said he credits his success to “years of training.”
According to McCreary, for the talent portion, he “danced provocatively with a hula hoop” to Ginuwine’s “Pony,” a song featured in the “Magic Mike” movie series.
“
I think Cole’s talent was, although extremely disturbing, effective.
— Grace Orriss
“It felt natural,” McCreary said. “[Almost] like it was my destiny to embarrass myself and make everyone uncomfortable.”
The performances were accompanied by cutting remarks by the pageant’s judges — a panel comprising two students as well as ASB co-advisor D.J. Cook, English teacher Alex Allison and history teacher Todd Creason.
“I just turned 18 a few days ago, and I’m pretty sure it’s against the law for me to see that,” senior and judge Robert Ziegler said.
Grace Orriss, senior and judge, announced that she was single.
After the individual performances, the boys split into their individual grades and performed group dances.
Freshmen Dhruv Aggarwal, Nick Harvey and Beck Schlatter danced to “California Girls” — with beach ball and board-shorts included.
Next, sophomore Theo Hughes joined McCreary and Jeremy Orriss to perform “Anaconda.”
The juniors rejected the idea of a group dance. Instead, Gabe Knoller, accompanied by Iazzetta on piano, sang Andrea Bocelli’s operatic enigma “Con Te Partiro,” while Will Hemphill, in a toga and jeans, engaged in an interpretive dance.
Lastly, seniors Josh Weisberg, Garrett Naylor and Lars Dooftyie danced to a mashup of songs, including “It Wasn’t Me” by Shaggy.
After the dances, each contestant modeled his attire in a runway segment and proceeded to answer individual questions in a Q&A portion. Harvey showed off a flamingo-patterned suit.
“[I felt] full of energy and ready to shred my competition to pieces,” Harvey said.
The following Q&A portion placed each of the contestants on the spot, forcing them to answer questions about random topics.
Jeremy Orriss was asked “Why are British accents so attractive?”
“I don’t know, you tell me,” Jeremy Orriss said.
After the Q&A portion, an intermission was held in order to allow the audience to vote for their favorite contestant using tickets and buckets.
McCreary is the second consecutive member of the class of 2019 to achieve the honor, after current sophomore Brett Solny won last year as a freshman.
“I think Cole’s talent was, although extremely disturbing, effective,” Grace Orriss said.