Students eat to win big at first-ever Super Bowl hot dog eating contest

By Aliza Davner
Editor in Chief/ Lycourier

As if the dining hall was not crowded enough or loud enough during lunchtime, Lycoming found a way to up the excitement with last week’s Super Bowl Hot Dog Eating Contest.
Freshman Nicholas Bruno competes in the first-ever Super Bowl
Hot Dog Eating Contest during lunch on Thursday, Feb. 2.
The event, co-sponsored by Parkhurst Dining Services and the Lycoming College Food Committee, was held on Thursday, February 2 at noon in the dining hall.

This was the hot dog eating contest’s inaugural year, with plans in the works to make it an annual event. 
Senior Kari Lenz, chair of the food committee, takes credit for the original idea, saying “I had always wanted to have an eating contest in the dining hall and after talking with the food committee and Nick Zolak, we finally put it into action.”

 “[Zolak] suggested using hot dogs,” Lenz added.

In addition to hosting the event in the Wertz Dining Hall, “Parkhurst provided the hot dogs as well,” said Lenz.

 The rules for the Lyco Super Bowl Hot Dog Eating Contest were based off of the rules used in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest, a famous eating competition held every July 4 in New York. 

The rules for the competition were simply to eat as many hot dogs as possible in 10 minutes. Students were provided trays of hot dogs, as well as cups of water.

Junior Ryan McClure walked away the winner, after having consumed 13 hot dogs.

He received a Super Bowl-ready prize pack, which consisted of six dozen wings with celery and blue cheese, two cases of soda, three large bags of Frito Lay chips and three jars of salsa, as well as a $50.00 gift card to Wegmans for additional snacks for the game.

Prizes were also given to the second and third place finishers.

Cody Butler, who placed second, received a smaller version of McClure’s prize, consisting of four dozen wings with celery and blue cheese, one case of soda, two large bags of Frito Lay chips and two jars of salsa, and a $25.00 gift card to Wegmans.

Butler consumed 10.5 hot dogs during the competition.

Sophomore Christos Arhontakis took third place, eating 10 hot dogs.

He also received a prize package, which included 2 dozen wings with celery and blue cheese, 1 case of soda, 1 large bag of Frito Lay chips and 1 jar of salsa.

 He also received a $15.00 gift card to Wegmans.

The event proved to be quite popular with the lunchtime crowd, as students left their tables and gathered in the dining hall’s center aisle to get a good look at the competition.
“I was thrilled to see how many students showed up to either participate or watch the event,” Lenz said.
“[Zolak] and I chatted about it afterward and he estimated that over 500 people, students and faculty, had shown up to watch the event,” she added.

Overall, the competition’s organizers have deemed the event a success. “I am very pleased with the event,” Lenz stated. 

“I must say that Parkhurst came up with outstanding prizes!  The event was a big success,” she added.
While the majority of the participants were male, “my heart goes out to the only girl who participated in the contest, Andrea Eagle; she's a real champ,” Lenz said.