Special Coverage: Mini Olympics

Last updated 6/13/21.

Results

	Overall	Kickball	Volleyball	Cheer
Freshmen	3rd Place (5)	3rd Place	2nd Place	3rd Place
Sophomores	2nd Place (6)	1st Place	3rd Place	2nd Place
Juniors	1st Place (7)	2nd Place	1st Place (beat teachers)	1st Place

Day 2– Thursday, June 10

By Rachel Rochford (‘23)

Today, the juniors faced the teachers in the final volleyball match of the IAC 2021 Mini Olympics. Both sides started out strong with the score neck and neck for some time. The juniors were able to establish a lead before halftime though. After this break to watch the cheer teams from each grade, the juniors came out even stronger and were soon able to lead their way to victory. Coen Hao, one of the junior cheer performers, even completed the second half while in full maid attire. Overall, this was a fabulous conclusion to this year’s volleyball epic. The event had a great turnout with students from every grade present and invoked a strong reminiscence of last year’s Olympics. As the world begins to safely open up again, we can only hope for more moments in time such as this.

What Goes Into a Cheer?

By Diya Ramesh (‘23)

“2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate? (Insert Freshmen/Sophomores/Juniors/Seniors here)! G-O-I-A-C. What does that spell? Goooooo IA Central!” If you’re looking for class/school spirit, IA is the best place to, and that’s never been better shown than during the famous IA Olympics. Due to the COVID-19 pandemics, the traditional Olympics have been turned into Mini-Olympics. One highlight of these events is the half-time cheer competition. Each grade has to choreograph a dance set to a mixtape of their creation. Who will emerge victorious?

Read on to find out and see videos of the cheers.

Day 1– Monday, June 7

By Rachel Rochford (‘23)

Mini-Olympics kicked off today with its first two events: kickball and volleyball.

Kickball began with a faceoff between the sophomores and freshmen. The sophomores were off to a rough start, having used two of their outs in about as many minutes. The tides changed as Sidrah Rasheed (‘23) had an amazing kick. The cheers rang through our tiny kickball field as she brought it home. Controversy arose as Mr. Morrison said that third base had not been touched. After protests reminiscent of overly-competitive parents at a youth soccer game from the sophomore crowd, along with the realization that Sidrah had not been tagged out, she was allowed to hold second. From there on out, the sophomores were on a roll. They went on to achieve an uncontested win over the freshmen.

The sophomores then played the juniors. Following their win against the freshmen, the sophomores came out strong against the juniors and it showed. This culminated in the final two periods of the game when sophomores were able to achieve loaded bases, allowing them to stack up on the runs. The game ended with the sophomores catching three of the junior’s kicks in a row winning it all in the kickball leg of the tournament.

Volleyball again began with a freshman-sophomore faceoff. As a sophomore, it hurts to write, but the freshmen came out strong. With strong teamwork and great blocking, the freshmen dominated with a final score of 7-21. However, this winning streak did not carry over as the freshmen played the juniors. Junior Vidhya started the game off strong with a powerful overhead serve. The juniors were able to gain and keep an advantage, resulting in a decisive victory over the freshman. The junior team will take the field again on thursday facing off against the teachers.

All in all, the first day of the Mini-Olympics was quite a success. Students were able to come together to enjoy the warm weather in an event that felt reminiscent of the traditional Olympics at the beginning of the year. The friendly competition and encouraging turnout are perhaps signs that things are beginning to return to a post-covid normal, not only at our school but also on a broader scale.