The Rhodes Field House was full of anticipation on Saturday night as students anxiously waited for the moment many of them had been looking forward to: the drawing of the NCAA Final Four tickets.
After wins from both the Lady Bisons and the Bisons and recognition of the seniors and Rhodes Rowdies, head basketball coach Jeff Morgan asked President David Burks to draw a student ticket stub to see who the first winner of two Final Four tickets would be.
The first winner was freshman Lauren Webb.
“I was so shocked to hear my number called,” Webb said. “When I got down there I thought maybe I heard the wrong number and I was going to look silly, but it was me. I was pretty shaky when I got back to my spot because I was so excited.”
According to Webb she has received a lot of attention since winning the tickets, but does not yet know who she will take with her to the Final Four.
“Ever since I won, I have received about 20 texts, a few Facebook messages and some tweets from people wanting to be my friend,” Webb said.
Students remained hopeful as the next winner was drawn. However, the next two drawings were thrown out because no one claimed them. The next drawing was claimed but was deemed ineligible because the recipient was not a student at Harding. After three mistrials a fourth ticket stub was drawn and sophomore band member Andrea Warzecha was announced the final winner of the Final Four tickets.
“When my ticket was pulled for the last trip I was kind of in shock because I have never won any drawing before and this was the first number under 300 pulled,” Warzecha said. “I looked at my ticket and looked up and my jaw dropped and my bandmates were like ‘Get down there.'”
Warzecha said she will take her older sister Amanda Warzecha with her to the Final Four games.
Webb, Warzecha and their guests will fly on the Harding plane Monday, April 6 to Atlanta, Ga., where the Final Four will take place. They will get to experience the city with Morgan and his son and attend the Final Four games at the Georgia Dome.
When asked what she was looking forward to most about the experience, Webb said she was excited for the entire trip. Warzecha said she is looking forward to the plane ride and going to Atlanta, a city she’s never been to before.
Webb said she hopes to see Indiana and Duke make it to the Final Four.
The tickets were incentives to get students to vote for Harding as the “Best Road Trip Destination in College Basketball,” a fan-determined competition presented by Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
Harding will be featured as the “Best Road Trip Destination in College Basketball” at 1 p.m. ET, April 6, on CBS Sports.
