Midnight Madness arrives on Saint Mary's campus
By KATIE MCVOY
Assistant Sports Editor
First, there is March Madness. Then, there is Midnight Madness.
Designed to enhance school spirit and pride, the Saint Mary's athletic department has organized the first ever Midnight Madness. On Friday, March 31, Angela Athletic Facility will be rocking with championships, music, and prizes. Midnight Madness will arrive at Saint Mary's, with the grand prize of a trip for two to Chicago.
Athletic Director Lynn Kachmarik designed Midnight Madness, along with student director of intramurals, Janel Miller. The event was designed as a way to get the Saint Mary's community involved in activities on its campus.
"It's a great event,"Kachmarik said. "This is a way to keep our women on this campus on a Friday night. It's a great opportunity for us to come together and celebrate."
The evening will kick off at 10 o'clock Friday night with the winter intramural championships. Kachmarik and Miller have been working to revamp the intramural program in order to get more women involved. This year the intramural teams were associated with residence halls. Each team had to be composed of women from only one residence hall. Friday night Kachmarik is looking for support from other women in the residence halls.
"Every residence hall is represented,"Kachmarik said. "We want the women to come out and support the people they are living with."
Following the conclusion of the intramural championships, the focus will shift from hall pride to class pride. Each of the four classes will have its own section in the gym and members of the class should come dressed in the assigned class color. Freshmen should wear white T-shirts, sophomore should wear red shirts, juniors should wear green shirts and seniors should wear blue shirts. Angela will also be decorated in these colors.
Following the intramural contests, the games will begin. There will be cross-class competitions, ranging from athletic events to trivia contests. Some of the evening's activities are a three-legged race, musical chairs, dodgeball, 30 second shot contest, and even "What would you do for a Klondike bar?"The evening will also host a tug-of-war between teams composed of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The class that wins the tug of war will face off against a team composed of faculty members.
A DJ will be in Angela all night playing music, and throughout the night there will be various emcees. Particpants will be selected from a box at the door for several of the night's competitions.
Women may place their names in the box as they enter the facility.
Along with an all-night DJ, there will also be free food and drink all night and drawings for prizes, including a one night's stay at the Saint Mary's Inn, Wendy's gift certificates, a free semester of aerobics, Saint Mary's apparel, and much more.
Although there will be some athletic events, the focus of the night is not just athletics.
"This is not about athletics,"Kachmarik said. "This is about recreation that anyone can participate in and about raising school pride and school spirit."
At 2 a.m. the winners of the intramurals will be presented with trophies and T-shirts. Following this presentation, the grand prize drawing will be held.
One name from each class box will be drawn to compete for the weekend Chicago trip.
The trip includes atwo night accommodation at the Ritz in downtown Chicago, a Saturday night dinner at the John Hancock Signature Room, and a $1,000 shopping spree. One final winner will be drawn from the four names.
The entire Saint Mary's community is encouraged to join in. Faculty and administration have been invited to participate as judges and competitors.
The event promises to be full of activity and all are invited to join.
"Come in here and show your Saint Mary's pride," Kachmarik said. "By coming and supporting this event you are supporting the whole Saint Mary's community."
Women who are planning to come to Midnight Madness must be in Angela Athleticwe Facility by midnight on March 31.
All Sports Stories for Thursday, March 23, 2000
