Plains seniors crowned Olympic champions

For the second consecutive year, the Plains High School seniors were the winners in the annual Horsemen Olympics Friday afternoon, defeating the juniors by only one point.

The scores between the four high school classes were within nine points, but the final tally put the seniors on top with 34 points and the junior class at 33 points. The sophomores finished with 27 points and the freshmen with 25 points.

The Olympic games got off to a late start, but organizer Ken Nelson and the student council were able to get six activities in before the students had to scramble for the buses shortly before 4 p.m. The event, which took place on the school football field, was part of the homecoming week's activities. Each event had between two to 14 students and most were a combination of girls and boys.

Some of the games change from year to year, but the students always stick with the traditional Powder Puff Football for the girls and volleyball for the boys. Because of the late start, they had to forego the traditional tug-of-war, which included the entire class body and sometimes with teachers jumping into the action.

The final score also included points the classes chalked up during the week. The seniors tied the freshmen with eight points apiece for Dress Up Days and tied the juniors with seven points each for the Class Karaoke & Cheer. The juniors and sophomores tied in the Dress Up Days with seven points each. In the Class Karaoke & Cheer contest, the sophomores collected four points and the freshmen two. The students also got points for their parade floats. The sophomores took first with four points, followed by the seniors in second, freshmen in third and juniors last.

In the King and Queen Games this year, the candidates from each class worked as a team in the Frozen Shirt contest, where they had to unravel a t-shirt that had been frozen in a ball. Once it was unraveled, the king had to put it on. Brother and sister king and queen seniors Devin Barnes and Marissa Young finished first for four points. In second place were juniors Django Oakcedar and Izzie Bakker for three points, followed by freshmen Greg Tatum and Aubree Butcher with two points and sophomores Kylan Bostick and Katelyn Subatch in last for one point.

For the Powder Puff Football, it was the juniors that won with four points, followed by the freshmen with three, the sophomores with two and the seniors with one point. The junior class boys claimed victory on the grassy volleyball court to collect four points. In second with three points were the seniors. The freshmen took third with two points and the sophomores finished last with one.

The Crazy Goggles Obstacle Course called for each student wearing what Nelson called "dizzy goggles." With goggles on and carrying a bucket of water, they had to maneuver through several old tires. The team that lost the least amount of water won. The sophomores finished first, seniors second, juniors third, and freshmen fourth.

The games saw the old bed races brought back. With teams of six - one on the lower rack, one on top, one on each side, and two pushing - the crews raced their beds some 40 yards and back. The seniors won, followed by the sophomores, freshmen, and juniors in last.

In the Ultimate Corn-Hole competition, the students used a big slingshot to heave a water balloon some 20 yards, where four teammates who were taped to a hula hoop had to get the water balloon within the hoop. The juniors nabbed first for four points. The freshmen team took second with three points, followed by the seniors in third with two points and the sophomores in fourth with one point.

Ken Nelson, who has coordinated the Olympics games for 22 years, felt the games went well. "We got a late start because of the parade but the students seemed to have fun and that is all that mattered. I think each of the classes were quite competitive," he said.