“Finest Four” and “Wild West” aren’t typically referenced when describing the NCAA tournament’s regional champions or the University of Kansas’ bracket region.

But May Davis, Clay Center freshman, represents the University in a Spike TV “Bracket Babes” competition, where 32 “tanned and toned college co-eds” vie in a looks contest for $5,000 and a trip to New York City for a “sexy photo shoot,” according to Spike TV’s Web site.

“The picture on the site doesn’t even look like me,” Davis said. “I’m just like, ‘Who are you, and why are you on the Internet?’ It’s a very awkward feeling.”

Voting for Davis’ bracket begins today on Spike TV’s Web site. Viewers can cast their ballots once every hour.

Davis is a philosophy major with plans to attend law school, treasurer for KU College Republicans, running for a Student Senate position in the United Students coalition and a Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader finalist. Davis said that her picture was relatively modest compared to the other women’s photos, and that the closest experience she had to a beauty pageant or photo shoot was her high school senior pictures.

“I’m not a model,” she said. “A lot of the girls on there are. This is nothing like I would do. My 4.0 is more important to me than any of this stuff.”

Duncan Davis, May’s father, said his daughter was always most comfortable in the front and in the spotlight. He also said the “Bracket Babes” contest was “idiotic and without any sense whatsoever.”

“I think she’ll attempt about anything, as long as it’s not sticking her finger in a light socket,” he said.

“As far as selling my body goes, I don’t do that,” she said. “I’m more of an academically-oriented person.”

She said she listed her best body part in her “stats” as her legs, but in retrospect, she would have liked to have said her brain instead. Davis’ first bracket opponent listed her favorite body part as her “100% REAL chest.”

Davis said she wants to bring her friend Ali Zeigler, Philippines freshman, to New York City if she wins the contest. Zeigler, who acted as the photographer-in-chief for an initial photo shoot in the corner of Davis’ dorm room, was a big proponent of Davis entering the contest.

“May and I kind of do spontaneous things, and a lot of times they turn out to be funny stories,” Ziegler said.

Davis stumbled across the competition on Facebook late one night in January and decided to enter the contest. She submitted the same photo she used on her Senate posters, a picture she said wasn’t even scandalous.

“I think the contest is really superficial,” she said. “If somebody was doing it who wasn’t me, I’d probably be judgmental.” Then again, she asked, “Why not, for $5,000?”

Kansan staff writer Brian Lewis-Jones can be contacted at bljones@kansan.com.

— Edited by Carissa Pedigo