Student Council hosted the annual Homecoming Dodgeball Tournament on Tuesday Oct. 15. The event had 14 five-member teams from all grade levels duking it out for the grand prize and for another dodgeball battle against the staff during Friday’s Homecoming assembly.

“Dodgeball usually gets a fair amount of people to show up, [and] we had a good amount of teams this year,” Student Council Vice President of School Events and senior Stephanie Gaytan said.

The winning team was an all senior crew, The 8Ballers, which included Robert Gloria, Darius Crochrell, Cameron Throneberry, Sam Andresen and Cody Thompson. All five teammates are very close friends. They believe this is what led to their successful outcome.

“We have a good friendship and that helped out a lot. We’re [also] competitors,” Crochrell said.

Throneberry was the last man standing two rounds during the event. Other students caught in this awkward position failed to come out on top. He was different.

“It [might have] looked like we were down,” Andresen said, “but we weren’t.”

“We knew what we were doing,” Crochrell said.

The 8Ballers were driven to win, their eyes on the cash reward. Each member from the winning team would receive a free parking pass for the following year. In the case seniors were to win, as the 8Ballers all were, each would receive $100. “We just wanted to win money,” Throneberry said.

Student Council is donating all the funds raised that night from the dodgeball participators fee and donations to the Veteran’s Association. The group will be raising more funds for this organization during their carnival on Nov. 2. Other school clubs can host a booth during this event. All students are encouraged to attend.

Many students attended the tournament and were taken in by the occurrences of the night. One major moment was the first student left standing: freshman Elliot Gianaris.

Gianaris was of the Reality Kings. He hesitated to make a move against the other team. It was five-to-one. The odds were not in his favor, so the King Wizard team advanced. They soon struck out once junior Kai Granger was their lone star. Granger attempted to take a shot but had three dodgeballs come at him striking him out.

Strike outs, knock outs and all things of the sort contributed to what Student Council advisor Mrs. Melissa Beck says was a successful night.

“It’s really worth it when everything comes together.”