Oct. 22 was a memorable night for the students of Shawnee High School as they got to compete against their teachers in a basketball game, eat an unhealthy amount of chicken wings and raise money for some great causes.
Each year the high school holds a student vs. staff basketball game as a fundraiser to aid the student council state charity. This year’s charity will benefit ALS research.
They also host a wing eating contest to raise money for the Dr. Archuleta Scholarship fund, which was started in October 2004 in honor of Shawnee assistant principal Dr. Geraldine Archuleta, who was hit and killed by a car.
In addition to the $5 charged to attend the event, the students have been collecting money for more than two weeks now. This money will be split down the middle to be donated to the two charities.
This year was the first time that these two events were combined and held on the same night. The Wing Bowl served as the halftime show for the basketball game, and the contestants were all students this year.
To participate, the students were required to sign up, attend a few mandatory meetings and of course, fundraise.
Special education teacher Carrie Randall played a large role in arranging the meetings and putting the event together.
There were 12 contestants who all got a chance to advance to the final round depending on how much damage they could do in three minutes to the heaping plate of wings that was placed in front of them.
The top four contestants from the initial round moved on to the final eat off and were forced to find some room in their stomachs for three more minutes of wing eating.
The only girl who has been brave enough to compete in this competition had a target on her back this year as she rolled in as the defending champion.
That’s right, a petite, honor student, Renegade swimmer defeated a group of men that included some burly linemen from the football team in an eating contest.
“I’m very competitive,” Sophia Fennimore said. “I just like the competitive aspect of the event and having fun competing against my friends.”
No one quite understands where she puts all these wings, just assuming she skips a few meals leading up to the event.
“I just run right after school, that’s really it,” Fennimore said.
As you’d imagine, this is an event that draws many of the linemen from the football team.
Similar to Sophia, they too exercised after school going straight to practice to prepare for their huge matchup with Cherokee.
However they indulged in some pizza after practice because, well, they couldn’t help themselves.
They still managed to show up hungry and ready to compete.
“Oh yeah, always have a big appetite,” Mark Egan said.
Mark’s teammate Pat Hurley edged out the defending champion Fennimore after they both advanced to the final round.
Hurley was able to put away 32 wings in six minutes of competition, something that Cherokee may look to exploit in the big rivalry game.
The wings were all donated by Pic-a-lilli on Route 206 and Hurley will be receiving tickets to a Rutgers football game for winning the competition.
Special education teacher Ryan Blaszczyk, who decided to compete in the final round by demolishing a plate of wings, played for Rutgers in his college days.
