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Dominic Santiago social media editor
The Homecoming Committee held the annual raft race competition on Oct. 21., at University Lake. The race saw participants from on-campus organizations and Greek life alike.
The cold front that struck Pittsburg forced the committee to reschedule twice until Friday afternoon when the temperature rose to the upper 80s. The rescheduling of the event did not impact student turnout, however.
As the raft race was set to begin, the bank of University Lake was lined with students eager to see the competition. Students sat on bleachers that were brought for the event, lawn chairs, and picnic tables to see their team perform.
The race rules were simple, cross one end of the lake to the other, retrieve the flag, and get your boat back to shore without sinking or falling out of your boat. While time was a factor, staying dry in your boat meant that your team would be placed above teams that sunk their boats if they were faster.
Cale Chapman, senior in Communication and homecoming royalty, and Morgan Blubaugh, junior in biology and homecoming royalty, gave the play-by-play and announced the raft race teams.
“In the past, I’ve worked as a lifeguard for raft races, but working as an announcer is a totally different experience. I got to bring some life to the event and get the crowd to cheer which was awesome. I had a wonderful time doing it,” said Chapman.
The event was divided into six heats which included two or three teams. Heat A had Lambda Chi Alpha face Alpha Sigma Alpha. Heat B teams included Sigma Sigma Sigma, Honors College, and Gamma Alpha Lambda.
The Gorilla Activities Board had a strong showing in the competition during Heat D when they faced Sigma Phi Epsilon and Sigma Tau Gamma. Gender and Sexuality Alliance struggled to keep up with a canoe boat design by Pi Kappa Alpha and Gamma Epsilon Tau.
In the final heat, the Resident Housing Assembly encounters immediate problems with their boat and ended up dragging their boat both ways across the lake while Phi Sigma Kappa kept their sea captain’s hats on and did not lose their boats to the historic landmark of campus, university lake.
In the end, Pi Kappa Alpha emerged victorious by a large margin with a time of two minutes and 13 seconds. The Gorilla Activities Board came in second with a time of two minutes and 43 seconds while Gamma Epsilon Tau took third place with a time of three minutes and 54 seconds.
After the race was over, Chapman and Blubaugh announced the homecoming champions. With a score of 38 points, Alpha Gamma Delta placed first overall. Sigma Sigma Sigma won second place with a score of 33 points while Lambda Chi Alpha finished in third with a score of 31 points.
“I think homecoming was a success overall. I think the students had fun with it and I enjoyed seeing everyone show up today and for Yell like Hell yesterday. I hope the students enjoyed it as much as I did and I just want to say thank you to the homecoming committee this week,” said Chapman.
Homecoming week was concluded with a parade through downtown Pittsburg and recognition of the homecoming royalty during halftime of the Pitt State football game on Oct. 22.
