Homecoming Week: Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!

Published 1:57 pm Saturday, September 20, 2008

Gathered up around their handcrafted cardboard boats, members of the Albert Lea High School Homecoming Court geared up Thursday for the annual boat race tradition at the school pool.

Lining up were boats designed as the Black Pearl from the film “Pirates of the Caribbean,” one as bright-yellow Albert Lea School Bus, one that looked kind of like a tiki boat, another “Gone Fishing” boat with fishing poles, and a last one for two royalty members dressed up like Adam and Eve from the Bible.

On Sept. 10, the students in the Homecoming court — who were paired off into five boy-girl teams — were given six, 4-by-8-foot sheets of cardboard donated by Minnesota Corrugated Box to construct their boats.

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They could add anything else they wanted to use to their creation, such as tape, glue or markers, but were forbidden to use things such as glitter or toilet paper, as they would clog the pool drain.

After a week of prep time, the students waited for the count of three, put their boats into the water and took off.

To win, a team had to be the first to paddle to the end of the pool and then all the way back to the starting point.

Parents cheered from the sidelines.

At one point the “Gone Fishing” boat capsized, and it was a close race between the school bus and the Adam and Eve boat.

Moving on to cheers from students in the spectator gallery, in the end the school bus — with Jake Vietze and Sidney Laurie inside — took first place. It was all over in a matter of just a minute or two.

After the winner was declared, all of the royalty students climbed into the school bus and Adam and Eve boats, and then the Adam and Eve boat flipped. Then to join in the fun in the pool, the remaining students in the bus jumped out into the water.

“Our strategy was to be No.1, to stay afloat as long as possible,” Vietze said after the students got out of the pool.

“It was a lot of fun,” Laurie added.

The two winners didn’t know how the boat tradition started, but Laurie called it the highlight of her Homecoming Week.

Students in the Black Pearl were Homecoming King Cody Hansen and Anna Enstad; in the tiki boat were Grant Stadheim and Alex Ciota; in the Gone Fishing boat were Mike Falk and Teri Hunter; and in the Adam and Eve boat were Tony Schoepf and Homecoming Queen Tara Helgeson.

The boat race is one of many Homecoming Week events. It has been around for at least four years. There were also dress-up days. On Friday students could dress up in cherry and blue; on Thursday they could dress up as pirates; and on Wednesday they could dress as nerds.

On Friday was field day, which included ultimate Frisbee, a powder puff football game with juniors versus seniors, inflatable boxing, a NASCAR-themed obstacle course, monster trikes and a mechanical bull. Friday night the Albert Lea football team played against Mankato East. A dance followed.