BY ALEXANDRA HULIT

As Showdown approaches, the telltale question continues to pop up: Is the school’s most popular event rigged? Seniors have never lost and sophomores have won all but one time.

Showdown started in 2008 to unite advisements, classes and the entire school. It pits seniors against juniors and sophomores against freshmen. Since then, seniors have been undefeated and sophomores have lost only once. That was last year, when the class of 2017 broke the mold and beat sophomores for the first time. If the class can win all four years, it will be the first undefeated class in CV history.

To win Showdown, a class must have the most points, which are assigned to each event. Three community members who have no students or other relationship to CV are invited to judge, said Academic Dean Ryan Hollingshead, who brought the idea of Showdown to the school.

“They judge all the songs, cheers, banners, trash cans, etc.,” Hollingshead said. “Everything else is a competition that is determined on the Showdown floor in front of everyone. How can you rig that?”

Student government adviser Robert Sutterer agreed. “Showdown is not rigged. The judges that we choose are community members with no ties to CV.”

Students’ opinions vary.

Freshman Heath Helms shrugged his shoulders when asked. “I don’t know.”

Sophomores Marissa Murphy, Evan Stockmoe and Noel McCauleysay they have no doubts about Showdown.

“It’s definitely not rigged since we beat the sophomores when we were freshmen,” Murphy added.

Senior Samuel Banas, a foreign exchange student from Slovakia, had a similar response to Helms. “I’m not sure because I’m new.”

“I don’t know, but a lot of people say it’s rigged,” sophomore Audrae Hensen commented.

Since the beginning of Showdown in 2008, seniors have a 6-0 win record, while sophomores are 5-1.

“There have been years where the juniors or freshmen are leading after some of the competitions, but usually the older grades are bigger and stronger, so they tend to win the final field events,” Hollingshead said.  “Junior year seems to be the hardest to win.”