Eleven teams in seven events challenged each other for gold, silver and bronze medals in the second Southern Olympics Sept. 20 in the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

“I think we’re gonna try to start making it an annual event,” said Natalie Trent, Student Support Center counselor and prevention coordinator. “We’re hoping that people will have a great time and it will be a tradition with a large crowd.”

The Student Support Center and Resident Life co-sponsored Southern Olympics again this year. Faculty and staff from both areas organized and judged the events. Sodexo provided free food, with water and drinks.

The opening ceremonies kicked off at 6:30 p.m. as the teams presented their flags. The 30 athletes competed in: figure skating/dance routine, triathlon relay, team flag, beanbag toss, four-legged race, mouth full o’ crackers whistling contest, and the much anticipated Twinkie eating contest.

During the Twinkie eating contest each competitor had 90 seconds to eat as many Twinkies as possible, gorging themselves as fast as the Olympians could chew; the team White T’s took home the gold for this event.

“It’s a reason to eat all the bad food for a good cause, so the calories don’t count,” said Mary Berger, freshman psychology major and member of the Southern Rocks team.

The figure skating/dance routine event brought out the smiles, with applause all around the gymnasium. Competitors chose from the songs “Endless Love” by Diana Ross & Lionel Ritchie, “Bye, Bye, Bye” from ‘N Sync., “Greased Lightning” from the movie soundtrack Grease, and “You Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer.

In this competition, flips cartwheels, spins, handstands and men dancing like ballerinas were all part of the show.

“Look for the back flip, and the basket toss at the end,” said Kyle Grover, freshman theatre major.

The dance and figure skating competition was a crowd favorite. Points were tallied in the dance routines off the spins, jumps, choreography and lifts. Judges enjoyed the routines so much they awarded a tie for second place.

“I was impressed with most of their moves,” said Danielle Dunn, resident director and Southern alumna. She was a judge for the figure skating/dance routine.

In the mouth full o’ crackers whistling contest the new record holder was Nick Bynum, freshman undeclared major. He held 51 crackers in his mouth and whistled. Packing his cheeks like a squirrel, Bynum could not spit out or swallow any of the crackers and had to whistle loud enough to be heard without losing any of the crackers in his mouth.

Other events included a beanbag toss and a four-legged race. During the triathlon relay competitors had to run a quarter of the track and then toss ping pong balls into a bucket.

It was the second time for Southern Olympics and students say they would like to see more school participation.

“I think it’s a shame that no faculty has entered,” said Mary Sexton, freshman sociology major. “My team entered because of what better way to promote school spirit.”

For the overall winners the bronze was awarded to team Last Minute. A tie for silver went to the Lone Rangers and the White T’s. This year’s gold winners for the Southern Olympics were the Spice Gurls team.

“We would like to thank all the participants for all the hard work they put into tonight,” Trent said. “Hopefully each year we get a better and better turnout.”