Mud Ballerz take victory at Swamp Bowl

Left+to+Right%2C+Devonte+Williams%2C+Tanner+Olsen%2C+Berndatte+Dornieden%2C+Joshua+McClain%2C+Alexis+Pratt+and+Kerry+Moore+pose+for+a+picture+after+their+victory+in+the+2019+Swamp+Bowl.

Maiah Woodring/The Lion's Roar

Left to Right, Devonte Williams, Tanner Olsen, Berndatte Dornieden, Joshua McClain, Alexis Pratt and Kerry Moore pose for a picture after their victory in the 2019 Swamp Bowl.

Students gathered in mass to participate in the annual spring festivities of the joint REC Fest and Swamp Bowl collaboration “Fais Do Do and Swamp Bowl” for its second occurrence.

Scheduled from 3:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., in front of the Pennington Student Activity Center on Thursday, May 2, the team “Mud Ballerz,” quickly dominated the courts and were announced winners of the 2019 Swamp Bowl contest. Of the 29 groups registered to compete, the three teams “Wet Sets,” “Bump, Set, MBA” and “Alpha Omicron Pi and Kappa Sigma,” competed as semifinalists.

Alexis Pratt, sophomore elementary education major, put the winning team together. Pratt specially picked out the all-student-athlete group that made up the Mud Ballerz.

After losing in the tournament last year, Pratt expected the victory this time.

“I was excited,” said Pratt. “We had high expectations. There was no option other than to win.”

Pratt said that if felt “amazing” to win.

“We all joined together, and we had one goal, to win,” explained Pratt. “So, that was it. We had that mindset, and we did it.”

Nia’keyah Kelly, sophomore psychology major, decided to attend the event for the crawfish that came included with her student meal plan. She commented on the thought behind planning for the festivities to take place right before finals.

“I think it was wise,” said Kelly. “I needed this. I needed this break right here.”

Kelly expressed her fondness for the event.

“It was a really good idea,” stated Kelly. “I think it was fun, and I like that we could use our swipes to get the crawfish and stuff.”

Even though it was not originally in Kelly’s intentions to register, watching students compete in Swamp Bowl inspired her to consider getting her own team together for next year.

Pratt also wants to regroup as many Mud Ballerz as possible for the 2020 competition.