The annual Mr. PHS pageant went very smoothly on Friday, Feb. 24, and Mr. Cross Country Micah Thompkins was crowned the 2017 Mr. PHS winner.
“I was really surprised,” he said. “The other guys had great acts, Mr. Choir slayed so I was really surprised with the final results.”
The Top 5 finalists included, Mr. Golf Micah Giancola, Mr. Cross Country Micah Thompkins, Mr. Choir Jack McFarling, Mr. Pirate TV Phillip Westmoreland, and Mr. Swimming Xan Adams.
Thompkins and Adams were returning contestants and finalists.
“When I heard that Micah and Xan were returners, I figured I wasn’t going to win,” Westmoreland said.
With this being Adams’ second time participating in Mr. PHS and making it to the finals, it was tough for him.
“It felt like déjà vu. It sucks,” Adams said. “Micah did deserve it and he was the other junior that made Top 5 last year so he deserved it just as much as I would have.”
None of the boys felt that they had to win. They all did this for the experience or to show off their talents. He did think the questions were somewhat rigged because he happened to get dating questions both years.
Jack McFarling was one of the crowd favorites and he went in having a lot of confidence in himself.
“I wouldn’t say I knew I was going to make it, but I was confident in myself and in making it to the finals,” McFarling said.
Max Spitzmiller and Jacob Reese had a blast on show night.
“It was great to be able to hang out with my best bud Jacob and see all these guys’ great talents,” Spitzmiller said.
He said the boys were very supportive of each other and there was no negativity backstage during the competition.
Talents were a huge part of the competition and the guys took a lot of time preparing them for the show. Some talents appeared to need more prep than others. Max Spitzmiller’s “I Don’t Dance” took him a week to learn. Micah Giancola and Evan McFarland’s “Wheels of Glory” took them two days to make and learn. Luke Jacobi was able to come up with his jokes for his stand-up comic routine from looking at the newspaper.
“If I could do anything different from that night, I would have made sure I didn’t start on the wrong verse of the song,” Thompkins said.
He went the entire first part of his performance trying to switch to the correct verse, but after realizing he couldn’t, he just continued with the second verse and then rapped the first verse.
“This year’s group of guys was a great mix,” Westmoreland said. “I think the show went really well.”
