Student Life emerges Halloween Dodgeball champion

At 6:55 p.m. on Friday night, campus was eerily quiet. The square sat empty, and the caf tables had long cleared out. But if you walked towards Fanning Hall, the quiet evening suddenly grew louder. 

Over the threshold of the Fanning courtyard, a deafening wave of sound filled the air. The student body packed into three levels, like an audience around a chain-link colosseum. Everyone waited in anticipation of the annual Halloween Dodgeball tournament.

The courtyard had been transformed to prepare for the huge event: fog machines and lights made the dodgeball court center stage. Around the outside, some students dragged their Fanning couches and chairs to save front-row seats. Others ran to the top floor, where they had a bird’s-eye view of the dodgeballing. 

Intense music played in the minutes leading up to the grand entrance. Landon Parrish and the Student Life team took the stage at the back of the courtyard and watched the clock as they got ready to announce the 2026 competitors.

Behind Fanning, the air crackled with a mixture of excitement and nerves. Every team lined up before entering the auditorium; it was their first time seeing their competition.

Savannah Jones, a junior family science major, played in the dodgeball tournament last year for Phi Sigma. She came back this year on team “Phi Parrish,” which wore shirts with Landon Parrish’s face on them.

“I’m feeling excited and nervous. The adrenaline is up,” Jones said right before her team ran into the arena.

Phi Parrish faced off against “Resurrection Replay,” whose costumes revolved around Jesus’ resurrection and included Mary 1 and Mary 2, Peter and John, and a “stone” that rolled into the arena when they were announced.

One of the most important parts of the tournament is a team’s choice of costume. Good costumes can turn a team into a crowd favorite, winning them cheers and propelling them further into the bracket. Halloween dodgeball is the only night of the year when KFC’s Colonel Sanders could square off against Bad Bunny, or the Lorax might narrowly escape an attack from Ed Sheeran.

This was Mason Baker’s third year playing dodgeball with the same team, but he’s had a range of costumes. A junior accounting major, Baker started his dodgeball career as Yoshi with the Super Mario Bros. The following year, his team changed costumes to characters from Winnie the Pooh.

“I was Tigger, and we lost in the championship. It was truly a heartbreaker,” Baker reflected in his orange and black striped onesie. “We’re hoping to bounce back from last year,” Baker said.

Great costumes might win crowd support, but they don’t necessarily lend themselves to dodgeball. Contestants battled unruly wigs, missing shoes and flying animal ears. One player wore a huge inflatable dinosaur costume: although it completed the Jurassic Park theme, it certainly made for an easier target.

As teams fought it out in the arena, the crowd stayed engaged. At one point, everyone sang along to “I Like It, I Love It” by Tim McGraw. Later, Parrish announced a sing-along break – even the competitors took a pause from their dipping, dodging and diving to sing “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

Multiple times throughout the evening, the crowd broke into a chant for remaining players. Cries of “PIG-LET!” “PIG-LET!” reverberated through Fanning Hall, and a boo erupted when the Lorax finally fell. 

The bracket narrowed as Ed Sheeran’s, the Wiggles and PGA golfers were eliminated. Four strong competitors emerged: Team TJ, the Tortugas, Student Life, and the Fast Food Baddies. Parrish announced that the Final Four would be best-of-three.

The Tortugas, a group of freshmen dressed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, eliminated Team TJ after an intense back-and-forth series. The crowd cheered and booed over multiple controversial eliminations.

The Fast Food Baddies, juniors and seniors dressed as iconic fast-food mascots, had a lot of crowd support – especially after they threw out free Chick-fil-A nuggets and fries. However, they were no match for the wildly popular Student Life team. 

The final game pitted freshmen against juniors and seniors. Four green turtles lined up against student versions of Tasha Coleman, Brian Mast, Landon Parrish, Candace Bass, and Autumn Pryor, complete with dresses, wigs, and bald caps.

The Tortugas started strong and won the first two games. The crowd was nervous: Tasha Coleman, played by junior Keegan Gardner on the Student Life team, was a favorite. But as the teams switched sides, Student Life won the third and fourth games.

Down to the last game, the crowd stood on their feet and crowded against the fence. One by one, players were eliminated until one turtle was left against a 6-foot-tall boy, dressed in a long floral dress and a blond wig. The two players faced off and threw their balls at the same time…

The crowd erupted when Candace Bass finally prevailed. Student Life rushed their teammate, jumping and screaming in victory. The real Landon Parrish brought out an enormous trophy, which the team hoisted over their heads for the entire school to see.

For Keegan Gardner, the moment was a long time coming. “I remember freshman year, when we came in third place, and I was abroad last semester. So it means the world to me that I could come back, and we can get the job done and get first place,” Gardner said, holding the huge trophy.

The Tortugas might have been defeated, but they were still proud of their performance in their first dodgeball tournament.

“I didn’t really know what to expect…I was just excited. I was like, ‘We get to play dodgeball in a cage, wearing costumes.’ We won the first game, and I began to think we might have a shot,” said Ty Thomas, a freshman civil engineering major.

Thomas said he’s definitely returning next year to try again for the trophy. But he doesn’t know if his team’s comeback story will involve turtle costumes. “We might go more elaborate. We’ll see,” Thomas said with a smile.

Feature photo of team Student Life by Noah Moran.