By Emma Alexander – [email protected] – Asst. News Editor | Feb. 25, 2015 |
UNC Asheville students and staff celebrated Homecoming with a series of competitions despite the ice and snow.
 
“I don’t think that the cold weather hindered us from being able to accomplish any Homecoming tasks during the week, but having to do the parade in the cold was pretty horrible,” said Corey Lea, junior homecoming court nominee. “The parade was pretty good and there were a bunch of good skits.”
 
Lea said he participated in The Nearly Naked Mile, The Bulldog Big Wheel Race and the Homecoming Parade.
 
The fourth annual Nearly Naked Mile was held indoors due to low temperatures and ice. Participants were required to give at least one article of clothing before the race, which was donated to area organizations, according to the UNCA website.
 
“I was nominated for homecoming king through Bulldog Nation, which strives to generate feelings of school spirit and unity throughout UNCA,” Lea said. “Olivia Dobranowski was nominated for queen and was totally up for it. I love Homecoming. It’s one of my favorite campus events because it brings everybody together and we show our Bulldog Pride.”
Olivia Dobranowski, junior and SGA chair of the homecoming committee said she came up with the basic ideas for the banner, float and skit for the parade, then executed the ideas with the help of her committee.
 
“Last year, I participated in Homecoming with Bulldog Nation where we won first place in the float and skit competition,” Dobranowski said. “Corey Lea and I were nominated for homecoming court because we had a higher probability of winning than other members based on our campus involvement.”
 
Joey Cutting, senior and president of Student Athlete Advisory Committee said he and Amanda Dailor were surprised, yet thankful, to win Homecoming king and queen.
 
“I think I know a lot of people and have managed to befriend the majority of the people that I’ve met,” Cutting said. “I think I may have won because of the respect that I’ve given to everyone while I’ve been in Asheville. I also think that knowing and loving the athletic family at UNCA gave me a lot of votes from the student-athlete body here.”
 
Cutting said having athletes win Homecoming court is a big deal because it is an event for increasing school spirit and athletic fan attendance. He said he hopes the fact he and Dailor won the titles will unite all members of the UNCA community.
“The only thing I think the cold affected was the outfit portion of the skit,” Amanda Dailor said. “We had to wear warmer clothes in order to keep warm, changing the look of our costumes, but other than that I think we did well with it.”
 
SAAC members dominated the competition events at Homecoming, Dailor said. They won the overall spirit competition and the Bulldog Big Wheel Race and placed second in the lip-sync competition. In addition, SAAC members Cutting and Dailor were voted homecoming king and queen.
 
“Our favorite activity was definitely the lip-sync competition,” Cutting said. “We spent about a month working on it this year. We made a mash-up of multiple circus-oriented songs, and choreographed a scene that included athletic moves and circus tricks.”
 
Dailor said the lip-sync competition required their group to work together to create a performance much different than their normal sports-related activities.
 
Cutting said for their float, they made sure to stick to the circus theme for homecoming. SAAC made a clown car out of a red Volkswagen Beetle, decorating it with an Afro wig, a clown nose on the front, animal balloons floating out of the back and the SAAC banner on the side.
For their skit, they performed a synchronized dance to the song “Afro Circus” from the movie Madagascar. SAAC members also incorporated the circus theme with a lot of costume and prop usage, Cutting said.
 
“This was by far the best Homecoming that I’ve seen while being at UNCA,” Cutting said. “The school spirit has been at an all-time high. The competition between the student organizations was very impressive and such an awesome thing to be a part of.”