From dressing up as hillbillies, dancing along to Cotton-eyed Joe, eating fried Oreos, spitting crickets or winning golden toilet seats, the Heritage Deep Fried Olympics had it all.
The Heritage Resident Advisors began the evening events with quite a spectacle. They piled into the back of a pickup truck as they were yelling and making whatever noises they could to draw out freshmen to come join the event.
“I was in my dorm getting ready for the event, and I heard the country music blasting and echoing (through Heritage) and I came outside and everybody was dressed like a hillbilly,” said Reilly O’Donnell, freshman ministry and missions major.
Once it was time for the games to start, the RAs took a flaming torch around the Heritage circle in a celebratory opening lap to the sound of “Gonna Fly Now,” the Rocky theme song, until an elevated fire pit was lit.
“It felt like I was at a farm somewhere,” O’Donnell said. “The whole atmosphere of Heritage changed…when I saw the majority of the freshmen out there, I knew it would be a good time.”
Freshmen were grouped into their respective dorm buildings, and they took their places at the scheduled competition events. Strength of will, endurance and strength itself were all elements that were tested.
The “tire toss” measured the physical strength of how far representatives could throw a tire, while “cricket spit” measured how far someone would go to prove their loyalty to their building. Other events were the obstacle course, the shovel pull and the all-important tug-of-war.
O’Donnell favored events like the cricket spit because people had to be brave to put the live crickets in their mouth in anticipation toward the tug-of-war.
“It was exhilarating because every building was fired up and [the tug-of-war] was where the majority of building participation was needed,” he said. “I enjoy when people come together and become involved in community and events like this. They are a great way to bring people together.”
There was a tiebreaker awarded to the building that could bob for apples the fastest and prizes were awarded to the top three overall-scoring buildings: Jarman won the tiebreaker and took the bronze six-pack, Craig came in second with the silver plunger and Dodd finished first claiming the golden toilet seat.
