Students gathered around the cold algae-filled water of the campus pond on Monday to witness residence hall representatives race or survive in their boats.

Representatives of each hall had to make their boats with only cardboard and duck tape in order to compete.

The race consisted of three laps through the campus pond. 

Each team consisted of three drivers paddling a separate lap who would be pushed into the water by two pushers.

Once completing the three laps, the members of the team had to high-five Laura Imbirowicz, resident director of Lawson Hall, and RHA Vice President Patrick Morrow in order to officially finish. 

While the goal was to win the race, many of the boats struggled more in staying afloat.

James Conwell, a physics professor, said it is important to make sure the cardboard is waterproof whether through using a lot of duct tape or paint.

He also said corrugating or folding the cardboard in the boat is important in making sure it keeps its shape even with a body inside.

In order to keep from sinking, Conwell said distribution of weight within the boat is also a vital thing to consider when making a boat. 

Spreading a persons weight out across the boat would certainly help in keeping afloat.

A very well built boat might be able to stay there for an hour or so but it all depends on how paranoid the participants are in making it Conwell said.

“If you filled the Campus Pond with sharks, people would probably be much more careful about doing it,” Conwell said.  

McKinney Hall, last year’s champion in the boat races, did not change their boat design much from last year. 

Amanda Williamson, junior psychology major and the second McKinney racer, said they won last year so she believed it would serve them well again this year.

“We are keeping it the same but we have a flag on it, which is awesome,” Williamson said. 

Tommy Pryor, a junior kinesiology and sports studies major, and Chris Martin, a junior economics major, were the other two racers.

Gabriela Miranda, a senior history major, and Taylor Coffman, a senior history major, were in charge of launching the drivers in the water.

While they were able to place second, the Weller Hall participants took first place with a good lead.

One of the Weller boat paddlers, Nate Lemenager, a sophomore business major, said he kept the same basic principle from last year. 

He changed a few aspects of the design by making it longer and adding outriggers for more stability. 

“It took about 20 hours of build time,” Lemenager said. “We actually field tested it three times.”

Ryan Johnson, a sophomore biological sciences major, and Clayton Mieszala, a junior history major, were the other two paddlers of the race. 

Douglas Hall technically placed second but they were disqualified because they fell out of their boat but swam the boat through all three laps. 

While several of the residence halls representatives were successful in fighting the battle for buoyancy, some sunk to the water.

Ford Hall had this problem with their boat as it slowly tore apart and sank.

Jaccari Brown, the paddler when it sank, was unable to swim requiring help from a lifeguard. 

Before the lifeguard was able to reach him, Nick Fulco, the National Residence Hall Honarary secretary, jumped in to save him. 

“I have been a life guard since I have been in high school and I recognized the sign of drowning which is active drowning,” Fulco said. “He went down and I went after him.”

After Weller and McKinney finished, Lawson finished in third place. 

Weller now has 25 points, McKinney has 20 points and Lawson has 15 points.

Jarad Jarmon can be reached at 581-2812 or jsjarmon@eiu.edu.