Sam Mayo Dirty Dances Way to Mr. WHS Crown

They moved like Jagger and struck poses like Madonna. 

They showed off their talents and bared their knees. They even slipped into dresses, shaved their beards and shared some of their innermost secrets. 

The eight contestants in the 2012 Mr. WHS pageant at  pulled out all the stops Thursday night in their quest for a crown that was a more of a hat, and to help raise funds for good causes. 

In the end, after 90 tightly produced minutes of skits and videos, swimsuits and formal wear, and talents real and pretend, the four judges and scores of voters in the audience—who weighed in by sending text votes—crowned senior Sam Mayo the 2012 Mr. WHS. 

Mayo, , shared the honors with runners-up Reid Garrity and Ben Ridley. 

But all the contestants were clearly winners on this night. With a nearly capacity crowd in the WHS auditorium, the event raised hundreds for the school's athletic department as well as funds and food donations for the Westborough Food Pantry.

The audience was eager to share the love, hooting at all the approriate—and totally inappropriate—moments in the show, from the opening dance number through the blooper video that capped the evening, and singing along with Matt Shunney's rendition of "Piano Man."

Mayo's strong showing included a memorable performance on the French horn, but his victory was likely sealed by his star turn as Johnny Castle, Patrick Swayze's character in "Dirty Dancing." 

Arriving onstage through the crowd, Mayo took charge of dance partner Andrew Lampi, the audience and judges alike.

Mayo will attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the fall to study biomedical engineering.

The contestants for Mr. WHS 2012—who were nominated by fellow students and worked for weeks on the pageant with choreographers and videographers and to develop new or hone old talents—were Will Ashton, Reid Garrity, Alex Hayes, Andrew Lampi, Sam Mayo, Ben Ridley, Ryan Sciba, Matt Shunney and Ryan Venditti. 

Created last year by physical education teacher and coach Mark Ellis, who noticed that several other communities hold similar tongue-in-cheek pageants, the event helps raise funds for training tools used by the school's athletic department. This year, the contestants also raised funds for the food pantry on their own.