Hecht wins annual Sportsfest competition

CLO_Sportsfest
The University Village, winners of last year’s SportsFest, lead the Torch Run to the Lakeside Patio Stage for Friday’s Opening Ceremony of the 2015 SportsFest. Hecht Residential College won this year’s games, which concluded Saturday evening. Hallee Meltzer // Assistant Photo Editor

 

Residential colleges across campus, along with University Village residents and commuters, competed in the 30th annual Sportsfest between Friday and Saturday.

The contest began in 1986 when Hecht Residential College challenged Stanford Residential College in various sports, and it has become one of the most anticipated weekends on campus ever since.

“The cool thing about Sportsfest is that all of the various sports allow everyone on campus to get involved and it brings the whole university together for a weekend,” freshman Logan Riddick said.

Sportsfest is meant to provide a fun weekend for all students and faculty involved, but there were also other goals that the creators of Sportsfest had in mind when they formulated the event.

These goals include building a sense of community within the university, developing leadership skills and a sense of sportsmanship in students, and creating an even stronger bond with the university itself.

Hecht Residential College has a history of excellence on the playing field, and that didn’t change this weekend as they cruised to their 14th overall Sportsfest championship on Saturday night.

They finished the weekend with 838 points, besting second-place finisher Pearson by 37 points. Stanford Residential College rounded out the top three with 790 points.

On the men’s side, Hecht also produced two of the top three teams. The MT TENtacles came in first overall out of all men’s teams, after posting an impressive score of 790 points.

They were challenged by the UV bathtubs, who finished in second, and the MT 4 Kool Aid Men in third.

The Pearson Rocks landed the top spot in the women’s competition after finishing the weekend with a total of 760 points. The Red Lots and MT5 Wifi also had impressive weekends, coming in second and third respectively in the women’s division.

The fast-paced weekend got started on Friday evening with two Pearson floors, the Stones and the Rocks, taking home the titles in the ever-popular men’s and women’s soccer tournaments.

The action continued on Saturday with basketball and flag football serving as the biggest events of Day 2. Both tournaments were fiercely competitive in the men’s and women’s brackets.

In basketball, the MT12 Birthday Candles survived five rounds on the men’s side to win the title, and the MT3 Pythons came out on top in the women’s bracket.

The Mahoney Badgers won the men’s flag football tournament, while the Red Lots prevailed on the women’s side.

Ultimately, all had a fun time and the goals put forth by the founding fathers of Sportsfest were certainly achieved throughout a great weekend.

Freshman Blaise Garfall said SportsFest lets students make countless new friends.

“Just when you think you’ve met everyone on campus, it brings so many more people together” Garfall said.

Freshman Sarah Anderson, an RT4 resident, also thought that everyone was having a great time.

“I wish we could do this every weekend,” she said.