~Mr\r\ir\~1 ~i~ir\~ Ar\A Everytliing In-between For sports-loving students, intramurals were an excellent way to make friends while having fun on the field. This was exactly the sort of way seniors Chase Gentry and Austin Augsburger chose to enjoy their free time. Intramurals were open to students who liked recreation and aimed to showcase their talents in competitions throughout the year, from football to archery and everything in between. Gentry had been involved in intramurals throughout his entire college career. "[It's] a big stress reliever when you can go out and put all your schoolwork aside and just play," Gentry said. Gentry participated in every sport that Harding offered, including fall and spring softball, football, volleyball, basketball, 32 lntramurals swimming and track. This past fall, he won the football kick for distance and the softball base run competitions. Augsburger also participated in in tram urals throughout his college years and shared Gentry's love for the events. He won the softball throw for distance in the fall semester. "They [were] like, 'Here's a line. Here's a softball. Throw it as far as you possibly can,"' Augsburger said. "I just happened to win." Of course, with any intramural event there was the incentive of earning an intramural jacket, something Gentry and Augsburger admitted they aimed for every year. In order to receive the jacket, participants must have been active and successful in all of the competitions throughout the year. Jim Gowen, director of men's intramurals, kept a record of the points earned by each student. "lntramurals have always been a source of building relationships over the years," Gowen said. "They are relationships that have carried on." Gentry's and Augsburger's passion for different kinds of sports stemmed back to their high school years. Their sports backgrounds carried over into their extracurricular activities at Harding, and both wanted to encourage other students to have the same great experiences they had had doing intramurals. "There [are] lots of opportunities in intramurals and so many different sports that anybody can play," Augsburger said. Hannah Robison
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