For the second year in a row, Midnight Madness was considered a successful event.

Midnight Madness is a long standing tradition in basketball and is an event that many college athletic programs put on to showcase their teams.

“Coach McConico and myself have been talking about bringing Midnight Madness to this campus for a while. We were hesitant at first because we weren’t sure how the students and school as a whole would respond to an event taking place so late at night,” said Amy Calhoun, Women’s Assistant Coach. “Last year, we talked with our Men’s Basketball Coaches, Coach Niven and Coach Murphy and we all began discussing the different experiences we have had at Midnight Madness Events, from our playing days, to coaching at other schools. We finally decided to go for it because we wanted to bring the fun and excitement of this event to Spring Hill’s campus.”

The event was not only held for the Women’s and Men’s Basketball teams, but also for the Cheer and Dance teams.

Alyssa Paesano, Cheer and Dance Coach, was asked about Midnight Madness. She said, “Not only does it kick off basketball season, but it is also the first time the student body will be seeing the cheer and dance teams perform this year. The cheer team, dance team, and mascot have all been working hard to perfect a routine that they will debut.”

Midnight Madness consisted of multiple contests between the students, basketball teams and the cheer and dance team. Molly O’Mally won “Junk in the Trunk,” Adam Schmidt and Ryan Ankersen came in first place with “Chicken Catapult” after winning the tiebreaker match, KB Gammon won the talent show with her break dancing skills, Jamie Guisinger won the uniform contest and Austin Barrios won the paper airplane contest. The Men’s Basketball Team held a dunking contest between the players and there was also a 3-point shot contest between the Men’s and Women’s teams.

The team captains for the Men’s Basketball team are Chase Shellman and Jared Holland. The team captains for the Women’s Basketball team are Jewel Hill and Jenna Clark.

“Midnight Madness really meant a lot to myself and our team; having people come out to have fun and show support really means a lot to our basketball team,” said Chase Shellman, Men’s Basketball Team Captain. “We hope those people continue to come out and support us throughout our season.”

Midnight Madness was a great way to support the basketball teams, as well as, the Dance and Cheer teams.

Jewel Hill, Women’s Basketball Team Captain, said, “You can look forward to the Women’s Basketball team being more energized, more up tempo, aggressive defensively and offensively and we are going to incorporate the crowd as the game goes.”

When Jenna Clark, Women’s Basketball Team Captain, was asked what an event like this means to the players she said, “It’s a way that we get to jump start the season and look forward to exciting things.” Clark says she is looking forward to the season.

The Men’s team has 14 returners, according to Coach Aaron Niven. “ We are coming off a very strong end to our season last year winning 5 of our last 7 and beating the best team in our league in the final game without 2 starters!  I think we will have an exciting team to watch and great young men to represent this university.  We finished second on our side of the league last year and should be picked pretty high this year.”

The first home game for the Men’s team is Friday, Nov. 10 at 5:30 P.M. The first home game for the Women’s team is Saturday, Nov. 11 at 4 P.M.