Chelsea Malone wins Mountaineer Idol

A competition that started with 16 eager students ended last night at the Metropolitan Theatre in a vocal battle between the final three contestants.

Ellis Lambert, Chelsea Malone and Patrick Garcia belted it out to a full house in an attempt at the $1,000 top prize and bragging rights as the 2011 Mountaineer Idol.

Malone took home the title of Mountaineer Idol. Following her in second with a prize of $750 was Ellis Lambert, and in third place with a prize of $250 was Patrick Garcia.

It's been a long trip, with a total of five elimination rounds before the final competition including "Singer's Choice," "80's Night," "Oldies," "Country" and "Broadway and Motown."

2010 Mountaineer Idol Amanda Hughart and Student Government Association Gov. Matthew Boczanowski co-hosted the event.

The final round of Mountaineer Idol was comprised of three sub-rounds.

Round one had the three finalists performing a song chosen by the hosts, round two had them perform a song from one of their previous rounds, and the final sub-round had the student singers performing a new song.

Judges for the evening included head judge Shirley Robinson, First Lady of WVU Beth Clements, West Virginia Division of Culture Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, Special Events Coordinator Brett White and Morgantown musician Jeff Jordan. A special guest for the evening was Mountaineer Mascot Brock Burwell.

Malone was beyond ecstatic with the victory and enjoyed celebrating with a large fan group of family and friends after the show. "I'm on top of the world. I can't even believe it," she said.

Malone ended the evening with "How Great Thou Art" to a standing ovation.

Each of the singers enjoyed performing on the Metropolitan's stage, and Event Coordinator Sonja Wilson is looking forward to seeing the 2012 competition finish on the same stage.

"I never dreamed in a million years that we'd ever be in our eighth year. I just thought in the beginning it was going to be a one day talent show, and that would be it. But here we are eight years later in the Met Theatre. Bob Hope was on this stage, and that's just amazing," Wilson said.

Wilson is already planning for next year's Mountaineer Idol, as well as the tenth Mountaineer Idol.

"We're already thinking about what we can do for our tenth year. I want to bring all the Mountaineer Idol winners back," Wilson said. "Hopefully, Chelsea will be the host."

Mountaineer Idol is already searching for an intern to assist with next year's Idol. More information will be released on how to apply at the end of spring semester.

Next year's Mountaineer Idol will hold auditions at the beginning of the fall semester.