Twenty year Sportsfest tradition continues

Students gathered together early Saturday morning at the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation to compete in a 20-year tradition.\nAbout 70 students from IU, IU-Purdue University Indianapolis and Purdue University came together to compete in the 20th Annual Sportsfest held in the gym of the HPER sports complex. Latinos Unidos sponsored the event and the athletic competitions allowed students to meet other Latino organizations and their members throughout the Midwest region.\nJunior Adriana Guerrero, Latinos Unidos president, treasurer and Sportsfest tournament director, has participated for the last three years. As this year's event organizer, she kept busy replenishing liquids and food to the 50 athletes congregated in the Latino Culture Center (La Casa) at the time. Her eyes trained on stirring Country Time pink lemonade dry-mix with tap water as she explained the goals and ambitions of this annual event. \n"IU's campus only has 800 Latino students," Guerrero said. "And so this is a weekend to bring together Latino student organizations to know there are other people who are involved in the same things, who have the same goals and interests, and to also have fun while participating."\nSixteen students from each school were divided into teams and brackets were drawn. Whoever had the most points after two days of basketball, volleyball and kickball received a trophy. \n"It's very competitive," Guerrero said. "And whoever wins gets the respect of everyone here." \nSenior Rosalinda Cedano has participated in Sportsfest for her entire college career and was the event director last year. \n"Each year Sportsfest has been improving," Cedano said. "The first year I played it was too competitive to where people were fighting and losing track of what the event is all about ... This year you want to win but not at the expense of someone else's feelings."\nWhile each year the date and games of Sportsfest may change, this event has grown to be one of the most important weekends for Latinos Unidos.\n"We see the same people come back," Cedano said. "Over the years you see those relationships grow … It would be hard to imagine what the campus would be without Sportsfest."\nEd Gomez is a sophomore from Purdue University, and heard about Sportsfest from his girlfriend. Leaving at 6 a.m. to arrive on time to begin playing basketball at 9:30 a.m., Gomez was looking forward to the competition. \n"We got spanked the first time by the girls; they got lucky," said Gomez. "The second game we played we got out act together and found out what our weaknesses were, worked as a team and won."\nLillian Casillas has been at IU for the past 18 years as an undergraduate and graduate student; now she is the director of La Casa. During her undergraduate years, Casillas also participated in Sportsfest.\n"This event is a good way of networking and having camaraderie," Casillas said. "There are relationships here that have lasted for a long time across campus.\n"The sports sometimes change. But the same sense and the same goals are still here after 18 years."\nThe final winners were Latinos Unidos from IU placing first in basketball and volleyball. Tau Phi Sigma from Purdue and Sigma Lambda Gamma finished second, and third place went to the Gamma Phi Omega sorority from IU.