Wednesday night, Parker Hall brought sexy back.

The lights were dimmed and a red carpet catwalk took center stage. The boldly beautiful strutted their stuff. Music thumped and young girls’ hearts could be heard breaking as a dozen young men vied for the coveted title of Mr. Oak Harbor High School.

In the end it was senior Mundo Corrales who left the crowd cheering for more as he was crowned this year’s winner. But on the way he had some tough competition in this contest where brawn weighed in just as much as beauty.

The preliminaries for the pageant began weeks before anyone hit the catwalk. Oak Harbor High School students nominated who they wanted to be eligible for the Mr. Oak Harbor High School contest, so simply being there was a win for these Wildcats on a quest for the crown.

Only the best of the best, of sorts, were in this running.

“It was pretty open for anyone to join,” said junior Kelsey Lambert, one of the student pageant organizers.

Walking into Parker Hall it was evident there was an early crowd favorite.

Senior James Reynolds had his own cheering section as if he was an American Idol contestant about to face Paula, Randy and Simon. The James faithful waved signs scribbled with “We love James,” but would this Reynolds rah-rah be enough?

The catwalk competition kicked off the evening’s festivities.

“We all tried to have fun with it,” Corrales said. “But we were also kind of serious saying ‘hey man, I’m going to beat you’ but then we’d go back to having fun.”

The contestants fully utilized their masculine wiles in the talent portion of the competition.

Juniors Mike Bressler and Joe Raymond brought the ‘80s back when they danced to “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Junior Jake Ward hit the deck and did push-ups while fellow Wildcat Meghan Murphy stood on his back.

Senior Mark Evans took this testosterone fest to the next level. His talent?

“I can make any lady look good,” he said while being escorted by two female classmates.

But when he took his shirt off?

“Now they look even better,” Evans announced confidently.

While their female counterparts might have stuck to the traditional talents of singing, dancing or playing the violin, the guys proved that, well, this was a guy’s show.

If it wasn’t strutting their stuff in a dance or displaying their brute strength, they were eager to show off their skills at the practical stuff too — like chopping wood.

After all that grooving and wood stacking it was time to wind things down, get into the deep meaning of the night and ask the contestants true heart-to-heart questions in the interview segment.

Contestants thought long and hard about global issues like whether they’d prefer to attend UW or WSU. The old standard “boxers or briefs?” even came into play.

The panel of judges had to critique the contestants’ answers carefully while also trying not to laugh too heartily.

Starlette Casey, ASB advisor and leadership teacher, said it was the interview that put Corrales in front of the pack.

When put on the spot and asked, “What senior girl would you like to spend the summer with?” he took a moment and gave his crown winning response.

“My mom, even though she’s not a senior, yet,” he said with a smile.

During Wednesday night’s pageant of the male persuasion a solid crowd of students and parents laughed at it all, clapped when their favorite guy hit the catwalk and, no doubt, cried a few tears of joy when Corrales was bestowed the crown.

In the end, James Reynolds earned the runner-up spot and the hearts of some of the audience members. Maybe someday those “We love James” signs will become collector’s items.

One thing in demand for sure will be a calendar created to commemorate the fun and funky evening. The calendar, along with proceeds raised by the pageant, are all a fund-raiser by the junior class to support events during their senior year. The calendar of pageant photography donated by Michael’s Photography has glossy shots of each contestant as well as a front page group shot.

The new Mr. Oak Harbor High School, Mundo Corrales, will be warming chilly winter nights as Mr. December.

“It’s a great month,” he said.

Whidbey News-Times reporter Nathan Whalen contributed to this story.