Student-athletes take over Cowles Fieldhouse for fun night

by Tanner Krueger, Sports Reporter

INDIANOLA, Iowa — If you walked through the Cowles Fieldhouse on Wednesday night, you may have noticed a large event taking place and creating lots of noise.

The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee hosted the first student-athlete night for Storm athletes to compete against each other in three different events in Cowles Gymnasium.

Coaches Ted Haag and Moran Lonning are supervisors of the SAAC program and helped host and supervise the event.

“I think this event is a good opportunity for Simpson’s college athletes to meet each other and a good night full of competition,” Haag said.

Student athletes, who normally focus on their respective sports, got a chance to compete in three events that offer no advantage to any teams. The events chosen for the event were team tug-of-war and ultimate rock, paper and scissors for the students, while the coaches took on assistant coaches in dodgeball.

These events allowed coaches and players of different sports backgrounds to connect with each other.

“It was a successful way for all athletes to come together and enjoy a fun night and watch other players and their coaches play,” said Mackenzie James, a junior student-athlete.

The SAAC’s goal is to better connect student athletes with the student body. Some of the events the SAAC has hosted have been a pink-out T-shirt fundraiser for volleyball and a Beat Central T-shirt fundraiser.

Rather than playing their respective sports, junior Robert Peters and sophomore Cassie Chubb acted as the masters of ceremony. Announcing the head coaches versus assistant coaches’ dodgeball matches quickly became a fan favorite and is likely to repeat next year.

“It was a lot of fun going against head coach Matt Jeter and the other head coaches,” said Bryan Boesen, an assistant coach for the Storm football team. “I had a great night and hope they have it again next year.”

The SAAC hopes to continue hosting events and come up with new ways to get more students involved in Storm athletics.