During lunch on Thursday, March 27, in the west courtyard in front of the gym, a historic battle was fought. Egos were crushed, appetites were ruined, and innocents were devoured, all to answer one important question: Which SDA students could eat the most pancakes?

Senior ASB student Shaina Pac stood in the shade deciphering contestant’s handwriting on the signup sheet as more and more students began to approach the long row of tables draped in blue paper.

Picking up the microphone, she announced that they would be beginning the first round before calling out, “Can Gaetano, Sam, Noel, and Lucas please come up here?”  According to freshman contestant Noel Hale, “I forgot my lunch today, and I heard about the pancake eating contest and said, ‘why not’?”

As each of the contestants took their seats, Pac began to lay out the rules.  Each contestant was to be given two plates, with three pancakes on each plate as well as a plastic cup of syrup and some water.  Contestants could touch the plates, cups, and table with their hands, but touching the pancakes meant disqualification.  “The first person to eat all six pancakes wins!” Pac said in conclusion.

At Pac’s call to start, the students face-planted into their plates and began attacking their pancakes with reckless abandon.  Freshman Gaetano Irrera walked away victorious and the first round of contestants were quickly replaced with the second round, which ended with freshman Firas Moussa as the victor.  Forks were quickly outlawed after a contestant used one to outwit the “no hands” rule. The third round ended in a last minute tie between freshman Tara Caufield and sophomore Alejandro Sanchez while in the fourth round, sophomore Sean Turner quickly left his peers in the dust.  Sophomore Kai Sarquilla claimed victory of the second round just seconds before the bell rang.

Each of the contestants were awarded a certificate for their “championship eating.”  While only five out of the 20  contestants won, many seemed happy just to have gotten free pancakes.