“Peaches” creamed his opponents in the Student Activities Board’s wing eating competition, bringing his team, Whit Wat Way, to the top of the homecoming leaderboard with 275 points as of Wednesday night.
Whit Wat Way, a coalition of dormitories Whitley, Waterman, and Galloway, took first place in both Tuesday and Wednesday’s homecoming competitions.
Freshman Ethan Cobb, known to his friends as “Peaches,” and senior Molly Madigan plowed through their wings amidst loud cheers in A.J.’s Cafe Wednesday night, finishing over 20 seconds before the second-place winner, Sigma Chi fraternity. Chi Omega sorority followed in third place shortly after.
Simpson failed to place in the wing competition, which they often win, and have yet to take first place in any of the homecoming activities, dominated largely by new teams and coalitions.
The Bloc — a new coalition composed of the Suites, Benzing, and Mauck dormitories — surged ahead Monday after winning the banner competition. The new cross country team and Simpson dormitory followed in second and third place, respectively.
The Suites House Director Christa Green said they formed The Bloc for two reasons: First, because it takes a lot of pressure off of RAs in terms of leadership, and second, because the Suites have not previously had a team.
“Mauck, Benzing, and the Suites notoriously have less participation, so Mauck and Benzing first were together,” Green said. “In the Suites, we really wanted to give residents the opportunity to do it if they wanted to, but we didn’t want to create a Suites team because we thought that was too far of a jump from no homecoming team to a whole team.”
On Tuesday night, the coalition Whit Wat Way beat Simpson on a tiebreaker question to achieve first place in the SAB trivia competition. Groups from each of the homecoming teams answered 50 questions across five categories: general knowledge, United States history, science, legendary athletes, and general birthday facts.
At the end of the five rounds, the Off-Campus Coalition placed third, and Wit Wat Way and Simpson tied for first place. Wit Wat Way won the tiebreaker by guessing the closest date to the birthday of Rev. Ransom Dunn, Hillsdale College’s first president.
Galloway Resident Assistant Ben Weide said Whit Wat Way selected their trivia team from the Whitley core team last year and added a few volunteers. Weide added that he’s happy with the coalition, which they have planned since last year.
“The Galloway-Whitley coalition was planned last year with the whole exile from Galloway into Whitley thing,” Weide said. “Then Waterman wanted to be in on it, and we were more than happy to let them join us.”
The wing eating competition on Wednesday night rounded out the first three days of homecoming competition. Whit Wat Way leads the pack with 275 points. Simpson and The Bloc are in second and third place with 200 and 175 points, respectively. ATO and the Koondawgs currently share last place with 50 points each.
The festivities will culminate in a tent party, a tradition revived decades after it was abandoned, outside the Roche Sports Complex right after Mock Rock. The tent party gives students a great opportunity to interact with alumni, according to junior Claire Lupini, the small events team leader for SAB. The winners of Mock Rock and the entire homecoming competition will be announced at the tent party.