Homecoming Week rolled toward its conclusion on tricycle wheels yesterday down the sidewalk near the Duck Pond.
The annual ASUNM Cherry/Silver games competition - a sometimes competitive, often hilarious series of Olympic-style events - brought one of 17 student organizations a step closer to winning the Spirit Cup.
Participants stretched their vocal cords in the Lobo Howl. Competitors tried their hands at marksmanship during the Mardi Gras Bead Toss. Others tested their equilibrium in the Dizzy Dean Race. Some made like rabbits for the Doubloon Drop. And finally, students took spills while trying to master kiddy-sized bikes during the Tricycle Relay.
The student organizations compete in a series of events, including the Chalk Mural Contest, Fall Frenzy and the Cherry/Silver Games, earning points along the way. Whoever gets the most points wins the Spirit Cup.
Teams range in size from three to 60 members.
Homecoming Week "has been really great so far and really busy," said Amanda Sims, vice president of the Associated Students of UNM. "There's always something, always something."
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Amanda Martinez, the ASUNM Homecoming committee chairwoman, said the games drew a few more organizations than last year. Cherry/Silver, she added, takes months of planning.
"We've been working on this since June," Martinez said. "I think it's running pretty smooth. We try to do it at times when there are fewer classes, in the evenings, so it can be accessible to everyone."
The Lobo Howl, the games' oldest competition, kicked off the event. The Association for Non-Traditional Students, or ANTS, took home top honors.
"It's great that ANTS won something because they've never participated before," Martinez said.
Cherry/Silver Committee Chairwoman Lauren Haggerty said judging the Howl is totally subjective.
"Loudness is just by ear," she said.
Martinez said the committee chose events according to this year's Homecoming theme, "Carnival on the Rio."
Yesterday's winners also included: Phi Gamma Delta fraternity for the Dizzy Dean Race, Alpha Chi Omega sorority for the Doubloon Drop and Kappa Sigma fraternity for the Mardi Gras Bead Toss.
Kappa Sigma also earned first prize in the day's most brutal event - the Tricycle Relay.
Martinez said the Spirit Cup front-runner is, for now a secret, but will be announced at tomorrow night's football game against Utah State University.
"That's part of the fun of it," she said. "No one knows who's going to win."
