It's not often that the men's and women's track teams compete against each other. It's even rarer that they tie in a relay. And it's almost unheard of that the men's track team would simply brush off the result and eat pie next to its opponents.
Penn's first-ever Pride Games, however, were not a place for arguing between groups divided by gender, race or, most importantly, sexual identity. The event on Hill Field Sunday afternoon was planned and coordinated by Queer Student Alliance Outreach director - and women's track mid-distance runner - College sophomore Anna Aagenes, as part of QPenn, Penn's annual lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender pride and awareness week.
"I really wanted to get my different communities involved - the athletic community and LGBT community," she said. "We wanted an event that we could have a lot of fun doing and we could get lots of different people involved [in], and I think we did."
Members from the two track teams, the volleyball team, the women's club rugby team, the LGBT Center staff, LGBTQ graduate-school students, QSA and Queer People of Color - about 70 people total - competed against each other.
Each of the eight squads wore a different color T-shirt, so when the teams posed for a final picture, they portrayed a rainbow, an international symbol of gay pride.
The men's track team, dressed in matching green shirts, headbands and biker shorts, predictably raced to a commanding lead, with victories in the three-legged and wheelbarrow races. The volleyball team, clad in white, came up just short in each.
Yet a pure athletic advantage was not enough to carry the male varsity runners.
Their biggest struggles came in the drag race. Each person had to run to a cone, don a female's shirt, hat and purse and race back to the starting line. The next participant then put on his teammate's drag clothes and repeated the task. The main problem? The shirts were too small.
They regained form to earn a first-place tie in the egg-balance race. All the athletic teams struggled in the pie-eating contest - won by the LGBT Center staff - allowing the men's track team to narrowly escape with the win.
"We trained for this for about a week," senior mid-distance runner John Guzman joked. "We had rigorous activities ranging from cheesesteak eating to wind sprints."
Ultimately though, the event was not about winners and losers. As all the athletes were quick to point out, this event had farther-reaching goals.
"I think it's a good way to bring everyone together," said volleyball junior Stephanie Gwin, who, like all of the varsity-athlete participants, is straight.
"Especially in the athletic community, there's a lot of stereotypes of athletes being homophobic, so we're openly supporting the [LGBT] community."
Aagenes, a lesbian, praises her teammates for their "incredible support" of her homosexuality but knows that even today there are difficulties for gays in athletic environments.
"We still have a lot of work to do in terms of getting people to feel more comfortable coming out and making people feel more comfortable in their sexual identities, especially on athletic teams because they're difficult places to come out," she said. "You have to be on the bus with these people, you have to be in locker rooms with these people, so if they're not understanding of your sexual identity it could be difficult."
After the competition ended, participants from all groups mingled over free water ice and drinks. They talked and laughed as Aagenes intended, not divided by anything, especially their differing sexualities.
