Some soggy students emerged from the Campus Pond on Wednesday with cardboard boats built by the different residence-Dominic Baima | The Daily Eastern News  Dominic Baima | The Daily Eastern News  on campus.

The boat race is a part of the Resident Hall Association’s annual Residents on Campus Festival.

Calla Summers, the national communications coordinator for RHA, said this year they had 10 teams that participated in the new relay-style boat race.

This year, McKinney Hall took first place with Weller Hall in second and Thomas Hall in third.

Each team was made up of five members: two pushers and three rowers. There was a pusher on each side of the pond to help the rowers into the pond.

There was one rower during each run of the pond.

McKinney’s rowers were Leah Shryock, Meghan Ellis and Sara Ralson.

Shryock, a senior business major, said she was really proud to help McKinney win.

“I think it was our goal this year to be first in the boat race,” Shryock said. “We spent six hours building the boat, and a lot of people came out to help.”

After each leg of the race, the rowers had to pull the boat on shore, completely out of the water, before the next rower could enter the boat.

After the last rower pulled the boat onto the shore, they had to run to a member of RHA.

Shryock said she was happy that she could be the one to cross the finish line.

“I think it was awesome that I can represent our hall in a really positive way,” Shryock said.

Mark Hudson, the director of Housing and Dining Services, said McKinney did really well.

“The boat was so well made that they could put all their riders in it and do a victory lap,” Summers said.

Katie Bidstrup, a senior communication studies major, said she came out to support McKinney, where she is a resident.

“We are a big family, and this was all team work,” Bidstrup said. “Without Leah and her mastermind, I don’t think it would’ve worked out.”

Bidstup said she is happy to see McKinney win.

“This is epic because Weller has won too many years in a row,” Bidstrup said. “Our goal was to beat them, and we did it.”

Adam Claiborne, a sophomore biology major, made a McKinney flag to fly during the race.

“We felt like we needed a flag on the boat, and we needed something to represent McKinney,” Claiborne said.

While some teams made it through the race, others ended with a soaked boat and rower.

Brandon Kranz, an undecided sophomore from the Thomas team, sunk in the water during the first leg.

“I’m really cold right now,” Kranz said. “I expected our boat to do a lot better, but it’s a learning experience.”

Summers said this year, in addition to adding the relay style, they have added water-balloon warfare.

Team members could throw water balloons at other teams’ rowers.

“We decided to use water balloons as a fun way to get spectators involved,” Summers said. “A lot of the time they just stand and watch, which isn’t that fun.”

She added that it is was a way they could help their team win.

“You can kind of sabotage other halls if they are winning or if you just don’t particularly like a certain hall,” Summers said.

The rules for the race were that the rowers had to be in their boat at all times. If they fell out, they had to get back in to continue and make three passages over the pond.

Summers said the race is a comic, fun way to show support for a certain hall.

“This is one of the most popular events because it is so unique,” Summers said. “It’s a really spirited event.”

Hudson agreed.

He said all the halls had cool designs for their boats and, even though they did not win, they had a good time.

“This isn’t a really serious competition; it is just fun,” Hudson said.

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.