Student-athletes proved that their talents extend beyond the sports they play at the first annual Mikie’s Student-Athlete Awards and Talent Show on Tuesday night.
The event, held in the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes, included presentations of awards ranging from “Best Play” to “Most Swag,” and seven student-athlete talent acts.
The show’s proceeds went toward the Best Buddies program, which establishes friendships between a role model and a buddy with an intellectual or developmental disability.
Donned in purple T-shirts, the Best Buddies “buddies” kicked off the Mikie’s with an energetic dance to High School Musical’s “We’re All in This Together.” With smiles stretched across their faces, the Best Buddies participants showed their stuff in moves from lyrical arm-waving to heavy hip-gyrating. One buddy had to remove her glasses to keep from losing them while whipping her hair back and forth.
Football coach Les Miles, LSU super-fan and mathematics senior Matthew Clark and Fox 44 news anchor and former LSU softball player Emily Turner served as the campus celebrity judges.
With a smile, Miles said judging the Mikie’s was “great fun” and much harder than coaching.
The swimming and diving team ultimately took first place for its 18-person choreographed dance.
The team performed to a mash-up of songs including “My Humps,” “Single Ladies” and “Teach Me How to Dougie,” among others. The team re-enacted moves from “Bring it On” and the “Les clap” and “the Brad Wing” from LSU Championship Bounce by Lil Final Boyz.
At the end of the performance, the male swimmers and divers exited the stage and returned in oversized LSU hoods held closed like trench coats. The audience hollered in anticipation of what was to come when the song “Sexy and I Know It” blasted from the Cox Center’s speakers.
The male swimmers and divers dropped their jackets to reveal their costumes consisting of only a small LSU Speedo swimsuit. The athletes turned their backs to the crowd, bent down and touched their toes to the lyrics of LMFAO and the hoots of the audience.
Timmy Dasinger, one of the team captains, said he was proud of his team and that significant time and work went into planning the performance.
Dasinger said he watched Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” music video about 20 times to learn her moves, adding that “it’s not an easy dance to learn.”
The pole vaulters took second place for their video in which they imitated Ellen DeGeneres’ segment from her show “Ellen’s Dance Dares,” where they snuck up on unsuspecting people and danced behind them.
The video garnered laughs from the audience and the stars danced off the stage after accepting their award.
Basketball player Destini Hughes took home a third-place title for reciting her original poem “It Only Takes One.”
Other acts included a dance by volleyball players wearing “Silly Sacks,” videos from the soccer and softball teams and a soulful rendition of “Amazing Grace” by football player Chris Davenport.
Clark, wearing his signature LSU wig and purple and gold Mardi Gras beads, said he was flattered to be asked to judge the Mikie’s.
“I know these guys on and off the field, and they’re all amazing people,” Clark said. “It’s good to let people see them in another light.”
Madie Jones, volleyball player and president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, estimated that about 200 people attended the show. She said the first-annual Mikie’s was a success and she hopes it will happen again in the future.
 
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Contact Emily Herrington at [email protected]