Dodgeball tournament raises about $4,000 for local school athletics

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Jordy Brengosz was all anyone could talk about Saturday at the Dodging Budget Cuts dodgeball tournament.

After all of her fellow teammates were eliminated, Brengosz was left to take on six members of the opposing team. In less than one minute, the Wisconsin freshman managed to eliminate four of the six members, though her team did not come out on top in the end.

Brengosz was on one of 20 teams that competed in the four-minute games at the Student Activity Center which raised $4,000 for Mount Pleasant Schools athletic programs.

“At first I was looking to dodge,” Brengosz said. “Then I would catch them when they were off-guard and knock them out.”

Elizabeth Schneider organized the event as part of a class project for PES 320: Foundations of Sport Management. The class required the Romeo senior and her classmates to put on an event to benefit the community.

The money raised from the event will be donated to the Mount Pleasant Booster Club.

“We saw the budget cuts Mount Pleasant had faced and we wanted to help out,” Schneider said. “The money we help raise here will help reduce transportation costs for the Mount Pleasant athletic program.”

Schneider said they also collected gently used equipment to donate to local schools.

Muskegon junior Jeremy Rank said he was excited to participate in the competition because he had not played dodgeball since seventh grade.

One of the only all-female teams, the Big Cats, said they brought the intimidation factor when they played.

“We wanted to support the local high school because we all love athletics,” said Illinois junior Elise Ford.

After losing their first game, the Big Cats decided to switch up their strategy and focus on catching and attacking their opponets more, said Dearborn junior Paige Bruce.

Even after trying some new strategies, the Big Cats lost their second game.

The team Pecan Sandies said they were able to get to the final four mostly because of luck.

“The game is about 30 percent skill and 70 percent luck,” said Byron Center senior Matt Erdmans. “We shouldn’t even be doing this good.”

In the end The Big Cats, DDD and the Pecan Sandies were not able to match the tournament-winning team Hugo’s Heroes.