Paige
On Wednesday, Oct. 16th, Pitt State held their annual raft relay races during homecoming week. The competing players had four members on each team who had to build a raft that would float them across President’s Pond. Two members put on life jackets and did their best to stay afloat, while the other two members were on the other side of the water waiting for them to make it across the pond. Once they made it across the pond, they tagged the two other members to start their challenge. The other members challenged themselves to wheelbarrow across the grass; which means one player put their hands on the ground and the other held their ankles and wheelbarrowed across to the other side. After they completed this, each member had to tie one of their ankles together and attempt to run together back to where their other two members were sitting in their boats and tag them so they could make their descent back across the pond. There were sixteen groups in total that participated in competing for the first-place position. Only four teams managed to stay afloat and not swim.
There were four heats with three teams each, but the last heat had four teams competing in it. The first heat consisted of Phi Sigma Kappa, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and Lambda Chi Alpha. Phi Sigma Kappa and Sigma Phi Epsilon fell over quickly and swam with their boats, while Lambda took the lead and stayed afloat, setting a great pace for first place for the following heats to try to and beat. In the next heat there was Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Sigma Alpha, and Sigma Sigma Sigma ready to battle it out. All boats in this heat managed to stay afloat once hitting the water and made it a very close battle until about halfway where Tri Sigma’s raft flipped, causing them to swim for the victory. Alpha Gamma Delta took a quick lead after this, with Alpha Sigma Alpha trudging on behind them. AGD ended up maintaining their lead, even after falling overboard, while ASA and Tri Sigma followed. In the third heat was Gorilla Activities Board, Student Government Association, and Resident’s Hall Association. SGA took the lead very quickly, dominating and able to stay on their raft. GAB and RHA fell quickly and swam with their boats in a tight race, while SGA held a heavy lead the entire race. In the fourth heat there was Newman Club, Hispanics of Today, and Gamma Alpha Lambda competing against each other. Newman Club was the only team to stay afloat in their heat, taking the lead very quickly while HOT and GAL battled it out. Newman Club ended up staying on top and winning first in their heat. Finally, the last heat consisted of Sigma Chi, Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Tau Gamma, and Students for Sustainability. This was a very competitive heat, all staying afloat well and battling it out until the end. Sigma Chi managed to grab the lead halfway through the pond with Pi Kappa Alpha chasing after them. Sigma Chi pushed through and led their team to their victory in their heat. All of the heats were very competitive, and competed like their lives depended on it, but not everyone could make top three. Corey Humble, who organized this event, announced third place being Lambda Chi Alpha, second place being Newman Club, and the first-place winner being Student Government Association.
Kenneth Shaeffer and Walker Mallatt, both senior biology majors, were two of the members on the winning SGA team. Both members dressed up as George Washington and took over the ‘British’ when they won the raft relays. Shaeffer, said they decided to dress up as George Washington because they are both leaders and said, “we both motivated each other to cross the Delaware together, (President’s Pond) and we both did great and did it for America.” When asking Mallatt if there was anything else to add on, he simply said, “No need, we won.” Mallatt said that there were no challenges when it came to the race, with Shaeffer adding, “The challenges were equivalent to the British, so it was nothing.” Shaeffer also added that they were most proud of, “establishing freedom,” with Mallatt following up, “I say we let freedom ring! We came out there, spread democracy and that exactly what we did, Go Rillas!” Everyone had fun in the relays and didn’t take it too seriously and used it as an opportunity to have fun with one another.
Corey Humble, who is a junior and biology pre-med major and human communications minor, put this fantastic event together and gave out the trophies for the winners. Last year, he was on the homecoming committee and got to help volunteer for this event, but this year was able to be the Raft Relays Chair and lead the event. Every bleacher and all sides of the pond were filled with students and other people supporting their competing friends. Humble added some fun additions, like the relays happening on the land with the wheelbarrow and foot race, to help give the people in the rafts a, “breather,” and “space it up a bit more.” He also said, “Overall, I think today went really well, and it was a great time for most people.” What is so cool about this event for Humble is that he was able to host a tradition that has been going on even when his parents went to Pitt State over 20 years ago. Cory said, “We’ve been preparing for this event since last semester, coming up with diagrams, and putting together work orders as well as coordinating with El Gordo today which was a lot of fun.” El Gordo gave out 75 free tacos to the first lucky students who ordered. Cory couldn’t express enough, “How happy I am that it happened and it’s over, it has been a long time coming, and this is an event that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.”