By Maddeline Coate
Staff Writer
Sometimes, school spirit comes in very unconventional ways.
Convening for the second annual “ASB. vs. La Vista Winter Games” throughout last week, students involved in the school newspaper competed against those of Associated Student Body in a contest of intellectual and athletic abilities.
Rebounding from a loss in last year’s competition, La Vista defeated ASB in the competition.
“The Winter Games have been pretty intense both years they’ve existed,” La Vista Co-Editor-in-Chief Danny Kelleher said. “We really did our best to strategize this year and definitely placed a larger emphasis on the athletic events of the contest.”
The Winter Games consisted of one game of capture the flag, two Scholar Quiz matches and three games of dodgeball. La Vista and ASB leaders came together in the weeks prior to the games to negotiate the terms of the competition, which they hoped would both increase school spirit and measure ability in a variety of areas.
“A few ASB and La Vista members got together and decided to have three very different events in the competition so that we could compete on different levels,” ASB School Board Representative senior Michael Whinfrey said.
The games began on Feb. 28 with capture the flag. With scores from Whinfrey, seniors Ben Sands and Mackenzie Emerson and sophomore Matteo Carella, ASB came away with a 4-3 win, marking the second straight year the organization has won capture the flag.
“We had a fast start in capture the flag and maintained a furious comeback from La Vista to prevail,” Commissioner of Campus Welfare Sands said. “I gave it all I had.”
La Vista was victorious over ASB in both rounds of Scholar Quiz, winning the first round 23-2 and the second round 20-4. Seniors Alec Lautanen, Kelleher and Adam Gerard and Nikki Bordokas were the highest scorers for La Vista.
“I thought it was a pretty good game, and the outcome was definitely what I hoped for,” La Vista scholar quiz competitor sophomore Risha Rohera said. “I was especially excited to compete on this year’s winning team.”
Each Scholar Quiz match had multiple standard questions, two lightning rounds and several bonus questions. Model United Nations co-advisor and history teacher Robert Timberlake was the reader in both rounds.
“Scholar Quiz was a lot of fun, and the friendly rivalry between the two organizations brought us closer,” ASB Junior Vice President Lia Sepanek said. “Competing against La Vista was extremely challenging.”
The games ended on March 1 with three games of dodgeball. Both ASB and La Vista had an all-boys team, an all-girls team and a co-ed team. ASB defeated La Vista’s all-boys team, but La Vista’s all-girls and co-ed teams conquered ASB, making La Vista the narrow winners of the 2013 Winter Games.
“People suggest that an extracurricular-on-extracurricular competition is counterproductive to school spirit, but I don’t think that’s true,” Kelleher said. “Both organizations are passionate about our school, and the desire we have to compete in a friendly manner derives from our pride in Costa.”
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