Students made a splash in the mud and water for the seventh annual Swamp Bowl. A little friendly competition between students and organizations brought the campus together.
On Friday, male, female and co-ed teams met in front of the Pennington Center on the Rec Lawn to duke it out for the title of champions. According to representatives of the Campus Activities Board, Swamp Bowl gives students a chance to de-stress and take a break before finals.
“It is a lot of fun, and it is fun to get a bunch of your friends together just to get down and dirty in the mud,” said Jasmine Webb, a junior playing for the team BCM Strikes Back. “It was a little chaotic, but that is the thing that makes it fun.”
Previous participants returned in order to not only have fun but show that they could do it.
“This is our second year participating,” said Webb. “We did really good last year, and we got to prove ourselves and prove that we can do it so we came back to do it again.”
Past onlookers who are now graduate students as well as alumnus of Southeastern also participated in teams alongside current Southeastern students.
“It is my first and only time I could play, and I was excited,” said Blair Williams of team The Justice League and graduate student of Southeastern. “I went to UNO, and I came here for grad school so this was the first time I was able to play. I would play again, but I am not going to be here for the spring. I was glad that it wasn’t rainy and cold like last year because that was a bad situation.”
For the first time in Swamp Bowl history, the champions of each division received a trophy that will be displayed in the Pennington Center.
In the female division, the Ninja Turtles won for the second consecutive year in a row defeating AOII.
“This is my second year playing. I love my team, getting to play,” said Savannah Kirkpatrick of team Ninja Turtles. “It was good to play against friends and be a part of team. It [winning] feels good. I honestly thought we were going to lose because AOII had a really good team, but we just worked together as a team.”
For the men’s division, Kappa Sigma took first and second with Sets in Mud receiving the champion title.
“It’s been a great day as well as getting student’s involved on campus and [those that put it on] did a great job,” said Harris Beall, member of team Sets in Mud. “This is my second year, and I am happy to win this year. We have been looking forward to this for about a month. We play a lot of beach volleyball, but it isn’t in mud. But we still practice.”
After the men and women’s divisions finished and left the courts, the co-ed continued to battle each other for another three hours until it came down to Justice League, Dirty Sets and Team FCA.
Justice League took third followed by Dirty Sets and Team FCA taking the court. Team FCA lost their first match and would have to win at least two matches in order to be crowned champion. Dirty Sets needed only one win to reign as co-ed champion. Team FCA won in two close matches taking home the title of champion and ending Swamp Bowl VII.  
“It was a lot of fun. Diving and getting muddy was super fun,” said Carly Allison of Team FCA. “I like working together with the team. I’m not going to lie [Winning] feels pretty awesome.”
Not only did Team FCA come together for the win, but it gave them a chance to grow closer and create new friendships since not every team member knew each other at the start of the day.
“We all came together. Not everyone knew each other in the beginning so it was cool that we all connected,” said Allison.