Nearly 1,000 first-year students gathered at Cessna Stadium on Friday for the 2017 Clash of the Colleges.

Participants were divided into their respective colleges and competed against each other in a series of unique field day events such as Air Volleyball, Hula Hoop Pass, and Tic-Tac-Toe Relay. Colleges were awarded points based on their performances in each event, and the college with the most points at the end of the night, the College of Health Professions, was crowned champion.

After back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016, all eyes were on the College of Engineering to pull off the three-peat.

How has the College of Engineering been able to remain so dominant?

“One word: numbers,” said engineering major Shane Pass.

“We have the most representation,” added junior Engineering Team Captain JT Kuertz. “We have a well-rounded group of individuals with intelligence, capability, and just overall athleticism.”

Every other college had one simple goal. Stop the College of Engineering by any means necessary.

Different colleges took different approaches.

The Fairmount College of Liberal Arts & Sciences established an alliance with the Dorothy and Bill Cohen Honors College to find strength in numbers.

“The College of Engineering has been an absolute juggernaut,” said Daniel Bohnenkamper, an Honors College student representing the newly-formed Honors College and Liberal Arts & Sciences alliance. “We teamed up with LAS to take them off the top.”

Some colleges turned to trash talk and team spirit.

“Engineering is a bunch of nerds,” added Damon Penner, a history major with the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

“We made our chant in retaliation to the College of Engineering,” said Fine Arts representative Katherine Donaghue. “We are definitely the most hype.”

Although the chanting didn’t necessarily pay off in the competition for the last-place College of Fine Arts, their enthusiasm was enough to earn this year’s Spirit Award.

Shareika Fisher, Assistant Director of the Office of First-Year Admissions and 2017 Clash of the Colleges host, said that the Spirit Award is given out each year to the team that shows the most college pride, displays the best sportsmanship, and is able to stay hyped the entire night.

“We are squad goals,” said Donaghue. “We all know each other by first name and we always cheer for our teammates, even if we’re losing.”

Brooks Taylor, a first-year physical therapy graduate student representing the College of Health Professions, believed that it was going to come down to teamwork.

“I think we can win this if we just come together and do our game,” he said.

Things got off on the right foot for the College of Health Professions as they raced to an early lead after winning the Dean’s Challenge.

They never looked back from there.

Event after event seemed to go their way, and they raced to a surprisingly comfortable victory.

“We have a lot of good athletes and good competitors,” said Taylor. “I didn’t know what to expect but I loved the energy.”

The night didn’t go so well for the reigning champs.

The College of Engineering finished in third place, falling behind the College of Education during the final events.

Despite the growing level of competition at the annual Clash of the Colleges, the event is still a great way for all first-year Shockers to bond.

“At the end of the day, we’re all Shockers,” said Fisher.