Muskies go bananas

  On Saturday Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. Centerboard and F.A.D. co-sponsored Bananastravaganza. This event was a banana split eating contest. In order to enter the competition students had to have a team of five participants. The team was also asked to have a theme along with costumes.

  Centerboard chose to do this event because once a month they try to do a big event that isn't considered generic, like an activity such as a movie night or spoons game. Bananastravaganza was an event that the Centerboard members had to put a lot of effort into when it came to planning and preparation.  The group's advisor, Amber Zifzal, remembered doing an event like this when she was in college and the group thought that it would be a great way to get the campus together to do something fun.

  The basic rules were that every team member had to eat a banana split without using their hands.

  "So, everyone gets their own plate of a banana and like three scoops of ice cream and they just eat that without their hands," said senior Centerboard Vice President Lisa Wentling. "The team that everyone finishes first wins."

  Teams began to arrive around 7:45 p.m. to the bottom floor of the Chess Center. Here there were seven tables set up, enough for each team to have their own table.

  Teams were going to extremes to prepare for the competition. Some went as far as to stretch and do other warm up exercises. This event wasn't one that the contestants were taking lightly.

  As spectators began to fill in the remaining space in the room, the F.A.D.'s and Centerboard started to set up the plates. Each plate had a banana, three scoops of vanilla ice cream, a pile of whipped cream and was topped off with sprinkles.

  At 8 p.m. on the dot the teams were announced and called over to their respective tables. The rules were explained  and they were told to get ready. The "on your mark, get set, go" was said and the banana split eaters got to work. As they were eating as fast as their mouths could chew, Centerboard was passing out Bananastravaganza themed tee shirts to lucky bystanders.

 After 1 minute and 40 seconds the contest was over and with a very close call, Team Banana Nut Bread was declared the first Muskingum University Bananastravaganza champion.

  "Well, basically I went for the banana first, shoved it in my mouth, swallowed that real quick, just wanted to work on that," said senior Team Banana Nut Bread member Joey Martaus. "Ice cream, finished it off with the cherry."

  Strategy was an important part of this contest. All the teams seemed to have their own personal game plans.

  "We ate ice before we ate the ice cream so it made our mouths cold," said second place team member Alex Simmons. "It made eating the ice cream even easier to swallow."

  Each team had their own judge to make sure they were not cheating. Judging an event this fast paced can be difficult, especially when only a few seconds determine the winner.

  "It was the scare that my team wouldn't win," said senior Travis Nevels. "And they lost so it was really upsetting."

  Spectators also commented that the suspense was the best part of the event.

  Afterwards guests were given mini banana splits. Then prizes were handed out.

  "For the winning team everyone gets a gift card to the Banana Peel," said Wentling. "And then everyone who participates gets a tee shirt, and anyone who comes gets a bowl of ice cream."

  Centerboard encourages anyone who wants to be involved in the organization to come out.

  "We have meetings every Monday night at seven and anyone can show up and join," said Wentling. "Everyone is just encouraged to come to the events and help out as much as they want or as much as they can."