|
For Immediate Release
December 6, 2002
NEBRASKA WESLEYAN CELEBRATES ITS STRONGEST,
FASTEST RATS
LINCOLN, Neb. – A 17-inch leap between platforms
garnered a Japanese exchange student the gold medal Thursday at
the Nebraska Wesleyan University Rat Olympics.
Tomo Kojima’s white rat “Ichiban”
had a 5 1/2-inch advantage over this year’s silver medalist,
John Bowles of Lincoln, in the long jump competition.
The 28-year tradition continued Thursday when 23
Nebraska Wesleyan students enrolled in the “Basic Learning
Principles” psychology course impressed a crowd of 200 people
with the talents of their rats.
Competitions were held in five events including
hurdles, rope climb, tight rope, weight lifting and the long jump.
Nicole Rager of South Sioux City, this year’s
gold medalist in the rope climb said a strict protein diet and months
of training gave her rat “Roxy” the advantage.
“She’s had her eye on the gold all semester,”
Rager said of Roxy. “She’s good…she’s very,
very good.”
The annual event serves as a conclusion to the psychology
course, which teaches principles such as positive reinforcement.
Across the country, most psychology courses in learning behavior
utilize computer programs for this purpose.
“The Rat Olympics provides a distracting environment
that isn’t available with the computer model,” said
Psychology Professor Spencer Morrison. “The experience can
not be found in a text book or lecture.”
Complete with their own flags and theme songs, student
teams contended for gold, silver and bronze medals in each event.
Special “valiant effort” awards were also presented.
Medals were also distributed to the teams who achieved the highest
overall scores. Other gold medallists included Lindsay Meyer of
Kearney and her rat “Galie” in the hurdles, Kristin
Wacker of Lincoln and her rat “Pinky” in the tightrope
competition and Jon Thober of Lincoln and his rat “Jinx”
in weight lifting.
To learn more about the Nebraska Wesleyan Rat Olympics
go to: www.nebrwesleyan.edu/depts/psyc/fair.htm
or type “rat olympics” in your browser.
The following is a list of results from Thursday’s
competition:
Hurdles:
Gold – Lindsay Meyer, Kearney: rat “Galie”
time of 5.94 seconds
Silver – Amber Juilfs, Nebraska City: rat
“Athena” time of 6.62 seconds
Bronze – Jaci Summerville, Scottsbluff: rat
“Kitty” time of 7.48 seconds
Valiant Effort – Whitney Livingston of Lincoln:
rat “Kitty” time of 9.38 seconds
Rope Climb:
Gold – Nicole Rager of South Sioux City:
rat “Roxy” time of 3.33 seconds
Silver – Kelly Bose of Orleans: rat “Loratta”
time of 13.53 seconds
Bronze – Katie Weatherl of Lincoln: rat “Bella”
time of 21.40 seconds
Valiant Effort – Joel Armitage of Omaha:
rat “Daisy” time of 21.87 seconds
Tightrope:
Gold – Kristin Wacker of Lincoln: rat “Pinky”
time of 5.62 seconds
Silver – James Ahlschwede of Central City:
rat “Clutch” time of 6.37 seconds
Bronze – Christina Robinson of North Bend:
rat “May” time of 7.29 seconds
Valiant Effort – Erik Hjermstad of Lincoln:
rat “Zoltar” time of 8.40 seconds
Weight Lifting:
Gold– Jon Thober of Lincoln: rat “Jinx”
lifted 116% of bodyweight
Silver – Jon Krueger of Hastings: rat “Carl”
lifted 94% of bodyweight
Bronze – Heather Lichtenberg of Neligh: rat
“Gracie” lifted 87% of bodyweight
Valiant Effort – Reece Hale of Glenwood,
Iowa
Long Jump:
Gold – Tomo Kojima of Japan; rat “Ichiban”
jumped 17 inches
Silver – John Bowles of Lincoln: rat “Jaz”
jumped 12 inches
Bronze – Andy Huls of Lincoln: rat “Rockin’
Robin” jumped 11.5 inches
Valiant Effort – Paul Blaha of Lincoln: rat
“Fifel” jumped 7 inches
Other competitors included Jessi Backes of Lindsay,
Sarah Armstrong of Scottsbluff and Joe Gohr of Lincoln.
|
