Annual Bed Race zooms along

Lining up at Dill Street in the sun, teams consisting of five members waited to race down Riverside Avenue in order to win the title of the Homecoming Bed Race champion.

The only thing standing between them and the title was a 100 foot race course lined with cheering students and staff.

Teams lined up two at a time to race down Riverside Avenue to compete against one another.

Team "Crazy KDs" for Kappa Delta, consisting of team freshman Cayleigh Wilkinson, sophomores Laura Coffey and Sarah Schinbeckler and seniors Jennifer Fowler and Maddie Toth competed in the Bed Race sporting their homecoming shirts and painted masks.

Despite their shaky bed wheel in the second heat, Schinbeckler expressed the team's enthusiasm of the event.

"It was fun — everyone all dressed up, and Charlie Cardinal was here, and [Happy] Friday guy was here," she said. "It was so awesome."

The team plans on competing next year and encourages other students to get involved.

"It's so fun, [students should] do it, and don't end up on the curb," Schinbeckler said.

University Singers' juniors Megan Downey and David Johnson said people often think they can only sing and dance, but they proved themselves by being named this year's Bed Race champion.

The team also showed up representing the organization's garb from 48 years ago.

"These are historical Ball State sweaters, and the original University Singers costume," Downey said.

Downey and Johnson gave some advice to anyone considering entering the competition.

"I know it can be intimidating to get involved because its only a month and a half into school, but I'd say it's one of the best things you can do," Johnson said. "How often in your life can you actually go and race on beds down a road?"

Along the sidelines, screaming fans watched the competition with a free ice cold energy drink, compliments of the sponsor, Red Bull.

Senior marketing major Lauren Haller approved of this year's sponsor and the overall event in general.

"This year [has] so much better, better costumes," she said.

For many fans, this was their first appearance at the Bed Races.

Holly Minyard, senior teaching major, said she enjoyed her first Bed Race.

"It's a nice day, something to do," she said. "I haven't been to one before so I thought I should try it with this being my last year."

Students weren't the only crowd members attending the Bed Races for the first time. Jonathan Neal, marketing and communications manager, was unsure of what to expect at the races.

"It's funny that I didn't go to this when I was a student, and now I'm on staff, and its my first homecoming, so I'm trying to check out all the things I missed out on when I was a student." Neal said.

He said he was also impressed with the creativity put into the costumes this year.

"I've seen pictures of them, I've done publications with photos so I had a thought in mind, but I wasn't sure what totally to expect," he said. "I knew the race part, but not the costume part, so now I'm experiencing the other half. I like that it's based on tradition, we've done this for many years and it just continues."

Other winners included Sigma Nu and Sigma Nu in the greek categories, University Singers in the independent female category and Studebaker West in the residence hall category.


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