The 2018 Battle of the Halls pits residence halls against one another in a showdown to be crowned Battle of the Halls Champion, a much coveted title that Bernard Hall won this year.
The competition required participants to give their all during a series of fun challenges Aug. 21 at the muddy intramural field on campus.
After organizing into their teams — and after a bit of smack talk amongst the participants — the competition began. The first event was the three-legged race. Despite the slick conditions, the teams managed to be surprisingly agile as they tottered back and forth on the wet grass.
Following the three-legged race was a game requiring highly developed hand-eye coordination: the egg toss. Teams of two started tossing an egg back and forth. With each successful toss, the teams were required to increase the distance between one another. Splattered egg soon littered the field as the tosses approached impossible distances.
As the teams competed, members of the Student Orientation Staff played the role of referees in determining who took the top spot in each competition. At the North end of the field, event MCs Chase Woodruff and Luke Koenigseder warned potential cheaters of the consequences of deceptive play.
After the egg toss, the “Necking the Orange” event was up next. This event required students to abandon normal personal-space etiquette as they gripped an orange in the crook of their neck and passed it in line, from neck-to-neck, person-to-person, down the line.
A similar event followed — “The Sponge” — in which students passed soaked sponges in line, alternating between an overhead pass and another pass, which resembled a football hike to a bucket at the end of the line. The first team to fill their bucket was declared the winner.
After “The Sponge” was the spin relay event, which was the most hectic challenge of the evening. Participants spun themselves silly with a baseball bat, then made a mad dash around a cone and back to the starting line. Laughter mixed with cheers from the crowd as participants unsuccessfully tried to stay on their feet.
Freshman Camille Holmes, who participated in multiple Welcome Week events, said she enjoyed the atmosphere of the events.
“It was pretty cool. It was like a lot of people coming together as a family,” Holmes said.
Another relay event followed the spin relay, the “Fountains of Fun” challenge. Participants were given a red plastic cup with holes in it and sped-walked to a bucket, emptying the water that didn’t end up spilling on their head in an attempt to have the fullest bucket on the field.
The field events wrapped up with a classic challenge: the potato-sack race. As with many of the other challenges, the field conditions were not conducive to speed, but the racers overcame the odds.
The final event of the evening was a cheer contest between the eight halls. Cheers were bombastic and rewarded the most creative and spirited team with points.
The following night, at a closing ceremony for Welcome Week, the winners of the Battle of the Halls were declared. In third place was Hughes Hall, in second, State Hall and the winner was Bernard Hall. Graduate student Bernard Nichols accepted the trophy on behalf of his hardworking hall.
Photo by Taylor Sone
