Jackrabbit mascot takes Capital One write-in crown

Chris Mangan

Chris Mangan

Jack State may not have officially been in the Capital One Mascot Challenge, but he still came out as a winner.

Jack State, the mascot for the Jackrabbit athletic teams, won the write-in portion of the Capital One Mascot Bowl that was announced at the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 1.

Jack State used a strong contingent of Internet votes to beat out schools such as the University of Minnesota, Northern Iowa and Liberty University.

For winning the write-in vote, South Dakota State won $1,000 to use in scholarships and funding of its school’s mascot program. As well as the scholarship money the school received, Jack State will be given the opportunity to be on the 2009 All-American Mascot team, as long as SDSU approves of the official terms and conditions.

All mascots that were the official mascot of the football-offering schools in Division I-A and I-AA were eligible for the write-in portion.

In order to be selected as the write-in winner, the mascot had to go through 14 rounds of competition.

The SDSU mascot received a strong contingent of North Dakota State voters, as Bison fans voted for Thundar, the official mascot of NDSU.

The favor was returned by SDSU fans, as many of the Jackrabbit faithful voted for Thundar before voting for Jack State in the write-in portion.

The strong outpouring from the two groups helped Jack State prevail, as well as push Thundar to the regular season title; Thundar fell to Cy of Iowa State in the Championship.