Senior Soakers

Senior Soakers is an event where seniors at East compete to eliminate each other by spraying each other with water guns.

BY RAEGAN JACKSON

Senior Soakers is an event where seniors compete to eliminate each other by spraying each other with water guns.

Senior Soakers is full of eliminations, alliances, stake-outs, bounties and fun.

Every year for the months of April and May seniors are on high alert searching for targets to eliminate while also watching their own backs. Each week, participants are given a new target to eliminate. If they don’t eliminate their target by the end of the week, they get a bounty put on them. If a bounty is put on you, then you become free game for all other players to eliminate you. The last player remaining is declared the winner. All the money collected from entry fees is then awarded to the winner.

Players are known to take the competition very seriously and will go to extremes to get their targets out. “If I gotta kick doors down, I’m gonna kick doors down, you just gotta do what you gotta do,” senior Stephen Threedouble said. Players will stake out their targets work, home and extra curricular activities to get them out. At the same time, players are going all out to keep from being eliminated. “I am turning my location off for everybody, nobody will speak to me, I will turn my phone off for the whole two months if I have to,” senior Haley Gaines said. Players are not afraid to go missing in action to stay in the competition.

Lots of players like to make predictions before the competition on who will win, get most eliminations and get out first. “My best guess would probably be Eli (Cox) because he’s not smart. He’s very loud about what he does,” Threedouble said. “I think Keelin (Davis) will probably get the most (eliminations) because he’s crazy. Like he will go for it,” Gaines said. Sometimes these predictions bring out rivalries and competition between friends.“Tyler Wheatley is one that’s taking it really seriously, but I think he’s going to get out first,” senior Tyler Bass said. “Well, obviously he’s wrong but he just needs to watch his back because he doesn’t know what’s coming for him,” senior Tyler Wheatley said in response to Bass’ claims. The competition between friends makes the game more fun and interesting for everyone involved.

Some participants have specific people that they are hoping to get as targets. “I hope I get like Tucker (Blanford) or Casey (Harbolt) cause I feel like they’re gonna be like easy. They just go around everywhere and I just want to be the first to get them because I know it’s gonna make them mad,” Gaines said. While Gaines is hoping to stir the pot with her hopeful targets, others are hoping to eliminate their friends simply for the laughs. “I hope I get Tyler Mahoney as a target because it will be a fun challenge and we’re friends,” Bass said.

For some, the biggest challenge of the game is avoiding your friends as a target. “One of my best friends Madison Hennig or Hayley Ranalli, either one of them if they get me like they’re gonna know where I’m at, at all times they know where I live, I’m in so much trouble if they get me,” Gaines said. Gaines, along with others might avoid hanging out with their friends but for some it’s worth the risk. “I hope none of my friends get my name, like none of my close friends because if we’re hanging out and they just shoot me that’s going to be really unfortunate,” Bass said.

Senior Soakers is one of the most fun traditions that students look forward to every year. With everything going on in the world students are happy to be able to have a normal event that they can participate in with their friends. Senior Soakers is a tradition that students hope continues for many years to come.