Going for the gold

In the spirit of the Olympic Games, West Virginia University brought the competition to the students during the first quadrennial Mountaineer Olympics.

The Mountaineer Olympics were held Tuesday at 4 p.m., and teams of students competed for medals, glory and, most of all, cash prizes.

To celebrate Olympic tradition students competed in games such as volleyball, badminton and table tennis. At the end of the event individual medals were given out for each sport.

The team with the most points overall received five $100 gift cards sponsored by Coca-Cola.

Student body Vice President Jarred Zuccari was part of the winning team.

"I think it’s a great event, win or lose," he said. Zuccari brought home five medals from the events.

Rainstorms forced organizers to create pitched events in the Mountainlair ballrooms.

"People might think they’re cheesy at first, but they’re a lot of fun," he said. "I had a blast."

Some teams came for the competition, while others came with more literal goals.

"We’re here for the five hundred bucks," said Morgantown native Billy Hogan when asked about his motivation.

In pursuit of the prizes, Hogan and his team played volleyball on the Mountainlair Plaza in a rainstorm.

Senior Programming Administrator for the Mountainlair Sonja Wilson was instrumental in creating the event.

"We normally don’t do a lot of programming for the students that go to summer school here," she said. "I thought the summer Olympics would be a good thing."

Wilson wanted to help the summer students socialize in a friendly environment.

Christine Schussler, a WVU grad student who helped organize the event, commented on how smoothly the event came together.

"We are all kinds of creative and fun in our own different ways in deciding on events, and the College of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences has been great in providing us with the equipment we need," she said.