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Final Four 2017 highlights singing abilities of student athletes for national anthem

By Chris Barnewall

Apr 1, 2017; Glendale, AZ, USA; The national anthem is performed by student athletes from each of the schools playing in the Final Four prior to the game between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the semifinals of the 2017 NCAA Men's Final Four at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 1, 2017; Glendale, AZ, USA; The national anthem is performed by student athletes from each of the schools playing in the Final Four prior to the game between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the semifinals of the 2017 NCAA Men's Final Four at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Final Four just tipped off, but check out this incredible national anthem rendition first

Singing the national anthem is kind of been there done that at sporting events. It’s a nice patriotic moment Americans can partake in before enjoying the game, but there are times where it just feels like a bad idea. Some singers torch the song, others take five minutes the sing the entire anthem, and only a very small few nail the rendition in a memorable manner. Honestly, everybody’s been trying to match Whitney Houston’s performance from Super Bowl XXV in 1991. Nobody has succeeded, but there’s a good rendition every once in awhile.

To tip off this year’s Final Four, the NCAA gathered four student athletes from the four schools competing and had them sing together. A unique idea that’s probably meant to show sportsmanship, but what really matters here is just how incredible the rendition was. Aurie Engel Schmieding of the South Carolina Equestrian team, Nina Novilla from the Gonzaga Women’s golf team, Sarah Hanvy of the North Carolina Fencing team, and Taylor Agost from the Oregon women’s Volleyball team had one of the best national anthem renditions in recent memory.

The four started off singing individually, where Novilla kinda stole the show with some awesome flair added to her section, before combining voices later into the anthem. The four joined together on the final verse to send out the anthem in style and the crowd, as is tradition, went nuts. While people typically go nuts for the anthem no matter how it’s performed there were hopefully a good handful of people in the crowd that appreciated this awesome rendition.

This is also a nice reminder that, while many of these student athletes are immensely talented in their field, some of them have incredible talent beyond that. Singing is easy. Singing well? That’s hard. Singing well with four people in a packed stadium? That’s insanity, but these four pulled it off and major props to them.

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