TACOMA, Wash. – Senior football player Chase Rhinelander has been declared by fan vote as the winner of the First Annual Luteville Bracket Bonanza after defeating volleyball's Jazz Alston late last week in the championship. 
 
"My friends, family and team got really into the bracket challenge," said Rhinelander.  "Our coaches would put the link to the voting in our team GroupMe, and my family would share the link. I think the student athletes really enjoyed the challenge it was fun to stay connected during the pandemic." 
 
Throughout the 2019-20 academic year, each student-athlete was given the opportunity to take a photo that reflected their personality as they were getting their headshot for the upcoming year.  With the 32-photo bracket, each of PLU's 19 varsity sports had at least one representative and fans would vote on each "matchup" via Facebook or Instagram stories.
 
"I remember doing our media day shoot at the start of the year and I brought the flag down to take pictures with the other student-athletes from Hawaii and we got a few other pictures in with the flag," said Rhinelander a native of Kuliouou, Hawaii and a graduate of Kamehameha High School.  "It was just awesome to represent where I come from and the culture of Hawaii.  I never would've thought taking that picture in September I'd see it again during the season, let alone in a bracket competition during the spring. I also never thought I'd win. That's just a testament to the great support system I have at PLU and back across the ocean at home."
 
Because of the wide-ranging support and engagement during the Bonanza, the opportunity to defend his crown will present itself next summer.  Rhinelander doesn't have a plan yet for the upcoming photo shoot this fall, but claims the football team will come up with something good.  Despite his recent success in front of the camera, the senior defensive back doesn't have any plans to change his career path from psychology to male modeling. 
 
"I didn't ever think of myself as a male model, as we do have quite a few guys on the team that do model," said Rhinelander.  "If I ever were to consider anything like that I would have to talk to Wesley Nixon, that's our sponsored male model on the team and get a few pointers on how to spice up my Instagram and stuff like that."