The Banner

Blood, sweat and testoster- one met on the field of battle as freshman boys from California
Baptist University and Azusa Pacific University competed in the first annual Smith vs. Smith Olympics.

Events were held on the CBU campus on Saturday, Mar. 6th despite the chance of showers throughout the day. Both the Lancer and Cougar men came to the competition with pride and style wearing team shirts, war paint, drums, bottle drums, horns, trumpets and countless other instruments.

"The idea came when a CBU graduate, Justin Blomgren, former RA in Smith Hall for three years, became the Resident Director at Azusa Pacific University. He is the Resident Director for a fresh- men dorm at APU, also called Smith Hall. Justin and I im- mediately thought we had to do an event combining both dorms," CBU Smith Hall Resident Director Rick DiFlorio explained.

The CBU chant of "CB what? CB what? CBU! CBU!" echoed in the courtyard between Smith Hall and Simmons Hall while APU responded with a chant of "Azu-sa! Azu-sa! You wish you were a cougar!"

"This has been a great step in CBU and APU relations. It's great to see rivals coming together to have some fun and friendly com- petition," CBU referee Josh Mott said.

"Our students were really excited to meet their 'twin' and compete in a variety of fun com- petitions," DiFlorio said.

Over 200 freshman boys from both schools turned out for events including basketball, dodge ball, a Halo 3 tournament, donut eating contest, relay race and Smith Hall-favorite, Buck Buck.
APU took a solid lead out of the gate with a tie-breaking win in the game of Buck Buck. Similar to leap frog, Buck Buck consists of the "bases" holding their ground while the "flyers" piled themselves on top to see who could last the longest and pack the most men on top before toppling over.

"Buck Buck was definitely my favorite. I had never played before and I was a base, so it was pretty interesting and a great way to take the lead from the start," APU Smith Hall resident Daniel Pilcher said.

The Lancer men took some hard hits in the following rounds. They lost the donut eating com- petition which consisted of three rounds. This was followed by a devastating defeat in the Halo 3 tournament.

APU also established dominance in the form of smack talk. "We're the real Smith Hall.
We came here to dominate. You guys can't handle the Smith Hall title," APU student Tommy Charles said.

However, CBU student Tyler Garrison chose to look on the bright side of things.

"It's been fun to get together and compete. It's been great to be with my buddies and come out serving the Lord, even though we're losing," Garrison said.

Things seemed to take a sur- prising turn in the relay race. Lancer men showed off their skill by mastering the spinning noodle, banana over/under, wheel barrow race, a four-way team push-up, eating a caramel covered apple (which, to contestants' surprise, turned out to be a caramel covered onion), a three person four-legged race, sculpting a peanut butter mohawk and passing an orange under their chins, all to steal the gold from the Cougars.

This unexpected turnaround proved too good to be true though, as APU took the gold in the remaining events: basketball and dodge ball.

The competition got heated as the elimination process start- ed in the basketball games. CBU lost in a triple overtime sudden- death battle on the court when a Cougar was fouled and went to the line for the winning shot.

"It's awesome seeing all these raging hormones being put to good use," CBU sophomore and onlooker Sammy Ramos said.

The controversial round of dodge ball closed the events. The game consisted of two student rounds and one round with the RA's of both Smith Halls facing off. APU took the gold in both student rounds. In the end APU added dodge ball to their list of wins for the day.

"It's almost easier to lose by 20 than to lose by two; I mean it's hard. We had a lot of really close games and those are so hard to lose, but I was really proud of my guys and the character they showed," DiFlorio said.

CBU student Noel Bravo still chose to see the good, despite the loss.

"We did our best, played hard, fought the battle and came together as a team. We got sec- ond and it was great," Bravo said.

Closing ceremonies consisted of awarding outstanding students with medals. APU swept the gold medals, except for the relay race, where CBU student James Gray took the gold. Biola University, who made a candid appearance throughout the day in the form of a decked out mannequin, took bronze in every event. APU took home the Smith Cup.