MOORHEAD — As the Concordia Band rang music throughout Memorial Auditorium, 200ft away, in Olson Forum, the intramural basketball championships sang choruses of squeaky sneakers and exciting clamor as teams competed to clinch their respective championships.
“It’s kind of nice to see even on a Sunday night that your school decides to come together,” Anne Carlson said.
Anne Carlson is an intramurals student director. She manages teams, games and schedules. There are three leagues Carlson schedules: the women’s league, the men’s A league, and the men’s B league.
At 7 p.m. The Washed Up Athletes, comprised mostly of former basketball players matched up against The Oubre’s Baes, comprised mostly of current volleyball players. Maria Watt is both a former basketball player and current volleyball player.
Watt plays for The Washed Up Athletes, but also has friends on The Oubre’s Baes, which created a dilemma for her to choose a team at the beginning of the season. But Watt chose right as The Washed Up Athletes ran up the score for a win. Watt dusted off her basketball skills as she created buckets and hit pull-up jumpers to help her team clinch the win.
“All I really had to do was lock in, that was the biggest thing,” Watt said. “Also, my teammates and everybody pulled through.”
On the sidelines of the women’s game everyone cheered when Alyssa Larson hit a three-pointer for the Washed Up Athletes to strengthen their lead as they secured the win for the night. At the end of the night, the Washed-Up college athletes walked out as the 2024 intramural champions.
“They’re collectively cheering each other on; you can see the women building each other up’” Carlson said. “They’re competitive but they have a good time doing it.”
The men’s A league games started off in the semi-finals at 8 p.m. where Johnsrud Mowers played the Amigos and Ballers Blue played Sherriff Klang. Johnsrud Mowers secured their semi spot and Ballers Blue upset Sherriff Klang who had an 8-0 record entering the championship.
“They’re competitive and they want to have fun but it’s a little bit different,” Carlson said.
After the semi-final games finished the Ballers Blue found themselves facing Johnsrud Mowers for the title.
On the Ballers Blue, Gabe Thompson showed himself to be the Catlin Clark of intramural basketball. Hitting deep threes with hands in his face and throwing tricky assists.
Riding the adrenaline from the upset Ballers Blue, comprised mostly of track athletes, threw the first punch as they took the lead in the beginning minutes of the game. They built on the lead through three-pointers and second-chance opportunities from grabbing rebounds putting them up 27-18 at half.
Both teams came ready to compete in the second half after the five-minute halftime, where each player took their desired break of sitting, standing or getting a few extra shots up.
Johnsrud Mowers battled back from their deficit, cutting the 9-point lead and coming within five points. But their climb uphill was not a battle they could win as they fell short to the Ballers Blue 55-46.
“Basketball is my favorite sport and I’m not doing it in college, so this is a great way to keep playing,” Thompson.
Some of the players had a track meet the day before tournament, but their commitment in track does not deviate them from clinching the 2024 intramural men’s A championship.
“I was pretty confident going in, we made some adjustments and it felt good,” Thompson said.
The men’s B league champions was Drizzyg26. In a semi-final games Dylan Erholtz made a one-handed throw from the opposite three-point line causing the spectators to erupt.
The Washed Up Athletes, Ballers Blue and Drizzyg26 left Olson forum with all as 2024 intramural champions.
