putnamjb@lopers.unk.edu
Balloons, lights and stationary bikes means that it is time for the annual Fall Frenzy. UNK enters the stationary biking tournament with the one seed after dominating in the qualifying round.
Jennifer Bucci, graduate assistant of Facilities and Student Development, helped to plan and set up this year’s Fall Frenzy.
“Myself and other facility GA, Dylan Simmons, have been working with some of the pro staff planning Fall Frenzy this year,” Bucci said. “The past couple years because of COVID we have gone head to head with Fort Hays. This year is basically like a March Madness Style bracket that the Expresso Bike Company themselves is hosting. Last week was the qualifying round and we headed into that doing a ton of research, trying to be strategic coming into this round but we did not expect to finish first. It’s such a great way to build comradery. It’s a fun atmosphere, you’re tired but you’re talking to other people on the bikes so it’s a great way to meet people and build relationships and it’s healthy too.”
After beating Fort Hays last year, UNK enters as the one seed taking on Iowa this week. The tournament has several east coast schools and Division I programs this year.
That said, UNK is far from an underdog looking poised for a deep run in the tournament in hopes of repeating last year’s success with a finals win this year. Fort Hays is positioning itself for a revenge tour this year and take the crown from UNK.
UNK Campus Recreation leader Joe McGuire is taking part in the competition this year.
“I’m doing Fall Frenzy just cause I love the environment and the competition that it brings out between students and other schools,” McGuire said. “As a staff, we have different teams that people can sign up for with different prizes that people can earn. As students, people can just compete between their friends with different leaderboards to get onto and share along with other schools.”
Fellow student leader Michelle Koenig echoes McGuire’s perspective.
“I just think it’s a really good opportunity to get together with other people and see how many miles we can bike and how many other colleges we can beat,” Koenig said. “I think it’s a good chance to get some miles in. I don’t bike very often but Fall Frenzy helps me to stay active in that way and work on cardio while also being competitive.”