Myles Sandrian/Collegian
Over 100 students tested their dodgeball skills at the Phi Mu Alpha’s second annual tournament.
Had Vince Vaughn, a creator of the movie Dodgeball, been at the George Roche Sports Complex Wednesday night, he would have been proud.
The Phi Mu Alpha’s second annual dodgeball tournament drew over 100 participants to dodge and throw their way to championship glory.
Only one team took the title: team Tombstone’s six Sigma Chi men pulled out a 3-2 win over team ATO Alpha in the finals.
This year’s tournament was especially vicious, with sweaty competitors rolling, diving and disputing referee calls with serious effort.
“It’s a violent sport that America loves,” Phi Mu Alpha pledge class vice president Andrew Dodson said, a freshman.
The fight for style was equally as cut-throat: notably Team Mordor’s elaborate Lord of the Rings character outfits and team Parliament’s savvy coordination of retro zip-up jackets and bandanas.
Tombstone and ATO Alpha’s struggle in the finals ended in a fifth round, where two ATO men were left against Tombstone’s senior Aaron Scholl, a Hillsdale Charger quarterback. He took them out in two shots.
“Scholl was our secret weapon,” senior Andrew Dion said, as the team basked in the celebration. “For most of us it was our first year out here—it’s a Cinderella story.”
Sophomore Cliff Frates made an impressive showing for the ATO Alphas, even knocking sophomore Mark Nicolet out in a 1-on-1 “Ready Dodgeball” face-off following a disputed call.
For the Phi Mu Alphas, the tournament was yet another all-campus success promoted by their innovative and fast-growing fraternity.
“Last year [the tournament] put Phi Mu’s name out there,” senior Andrew Fink said, this semester’s pledge class president. “This year, the Battle of the Bands is hard to top, but dodgeball’s the only thing that will come close.”
The event was unique in drawing an eclectic sample of Hillsdale students, all enthused by this aggressive and bizarre sport.
Sophomore Jeff Myers, who reveled over being “an athlete for one night,” joined a dodgeball team for the first time this year.
“I feel welcomed by my newfound dodgeball family,” Myers said. “And I am honored to throw balls at all of these people.”
Sophomore Steven Hann wore a jock strap over his shorts for the second year in a row, and accredits it to “good luck.”
“It has not been washed for three and three-quarters years, exactly,” Hann said. “I fear nothing on the court with my jock strap in its proper place.”
Three mostly-female teams ventured to join the fast-pitching male-dominated dodgeball competition, including the Chi-O-Mazing team.
“We knew we wouldn’t be that good, but we wanted to be out here and support,” freshman Rachael Duryea said.
Besides championship prizes for first and second place, Phi Mu Alpha donated the event’s earnings to the Reading Middle School music program.