'Battle of the boys' includes IU

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the hottest of them all?\nAs it turns out, it might be that guy sitting next to you in biology class. \nLast year, CosmoGIRL! posed the question "Who's the hottest guy you know?" to readers around the nation. After several months of nominations and voting, CosmoGIRL! narrowed down the pool of contestants to 12 finalists. \nTwo students with ties to IU, alumni Noah Gold and future IU medical student Jim Hamblin, ranked in the top twelve. \nGold, who graduated in 2004 with a degree in sports marketing, said this kind of publicity is new to him. \n"This is definitely a first for me," he said. "I don't think I ever thought I'd be in something like this." \nGold was nominated by long-time friend Teal Cannaday, who also attended IU her freshman year of college. Cannaday said she and Gold met at summer camp when they were 15 and have been good friends since. \n"He's a genuinely very good, honest person, and he's very sweet, caring, and he's cute... but he doesn't know it," she said. "He's just so down to earth." \nAlthough Cannaday said she thinks Gold has a good shot at winning, she was surprised by the response her nomination generated. \n"I just thought, 'Why not?'" she said. "I didn't even think anything would happen from it, and then it turned into this huge thing... now I'm telling everyone in my office to vote for him. It's fun." \nWhile Gold remains hopeful that he can win the competition, he jokes that he isn't so sure the contest is going to help him out with the ladies. \n"They don't even put your number down, so how am I supposed to get dates out of it?" he said. "But who knows, maybe I'll meet my dream girl from being on this. You can only hope." \nJim Hamblin, who was also voted in the top 12, graduated from Wake Forest College with a degree in biology. Hamblin, originally from northwest Indiana, will soon attend medical school at the Indianapolis campus of IU. "I wanted to be back home, closer to my family," Hamblin said. "And it's a great school." \nHamblin was nominated by his sister, Lauren, who is a junior at IU majoring in English. According to www.cosmogirl.com, Lauren nominated her brother for several reasons. \n"Jim is extremely caring for the ones he loves," she said. "He has an incredibly amount of creativity and ambition and he's definitely one of the most witty people you will ever meet." \nHamblin said he is unsure about his chances at winning, although he jokes about the functional advantages to being ranked first. \n"I don't think it's likely I'll win," he said. "But my main motivation to win would be so I could write 'Hottest guy in America' on my resume." \nAs of last Tuesday, the public can vote online at the CosmoGIRL! Web site on a daily basis to narrow down the twelve finalists to one winner. Every week the votes will be counted and two contestants will be eliminated until the final winner is announced on July 5. The winner and the person who nominated him will each receive a $1,000 prize.