2019 Ohio State homecoming king and queen crowned

COLUMBUS, OH (WCMH)— New royalty has been crowned at The Ohio State University.

Thomas Bowles of Westlake, Ohio, and Raina Rotondo of Bath, Ohio, were named the 2019 homecoming king and queen during pregame of Saturday’s football game against Michigan State.

“This is it. This is the icing on the cake of my family’s tradition of being buckeyes… and I just could not be more blessed to be here,” Bowles said minutes after being crowned.

“I was shocked,” added Rotondo. [I am] so grateful and thankful. Thankful to everyone who helped me get here: my family, my professors, all the students I’m friends with.”

The 98th homecoming court was joined in the field by 1959’s homecoming queen Lynn Goorey Ganz. Ganz says many things at Ohio State have changed in 60 years, but she loves coming back to celebrate the homecoming tradition.

“[Being on the homecoming court] was very exciting,” Ganz elaborated. “It’s a lot different than now, because we were elected by student body vote, and there were only five of us: the queen and the four court members. We went around campus in order for the students to get to know us, we went around campus with little skits, and we had to sing and dance… it was fun.”

Today, Court members are chosen based on their leadership qualities, spirit, integrity, and achievement through their contributions and involvement at Ohio State, according to the university.

The selection process begins with a paper application. Based on application scores and GPA, individual interviews are offered and conducted by OSU faculty, staff, and alumni. The scores from the paper application and interview are combined to determine the 2019 Homecoming Court members.