This year’s 2009 Homecoming week sparked the start of an exciting year.

Thursday night at 5:50, the parade began. After they have been working on them all afternoon, each class had built their own float. These floats were judged by the staff of Rio High based on their opinion of creativity. The juniors placed first with their float. The football team was also in the parade along with the volleyball and the cross-country teams. At the very end of the parade were the students on homecoming court.

Soon after the parade had ended, the games started at the park.  These games included powder puff football, egg toss, tug-o-war, car push, food relay, and the Viking relay.   

•Powder puff football – The first games were the freshmen vs. seniors and the sophomores vs. juniors. The freshmen won against the seniors while on the other side of the field the sophomores and juniors battled it out into overtime. Sophomores ended the game with a pass to Megan Petty who ran it in for a touchdown. The freshmen and sophomores then played each other. In the end the sophomores clamed victory.
•Egg toss –Participating in the egg toss were Mary and Nicole for the freshman, Hansena and Marissa for the sophomores, Osha and Amberly for the juniors, and finally John and Robbie for the seniors. Also Mr. Mootz and Mr. Toelner decided to participate in this event. The juniors dropped out first followed by the freshmen and sophomores. The last two teams remaining were the seniors and teachers. Finally the seniors won with a high throw from Robbie and a great catch by John.
•Tug-o-war – The first matches of tug-o-war were the freshmen vs. the seniors and the sophomores vs. juniors. The seniors and juniors won the first match and moved on to the second. Juniors then won the second match against the seniors. The juniors’ last match was against the teachers who were out-muscled by the dominating juniors.
•Car Push – Each class had their own teams to see how fast they could push a car down the football field. It was a close three way tie between the seniors, juniors, and teachers, but the juniors did win by only fractions of a second.
•Food Relay – The food relay was the most exciting event of them all. Players from each class had to eat everything in the bag they were given as fast as they could. Many succeeded to hold the food down while others failed to do so. In the end the sophomores ate the fastest followed by the juniors, then seniors, and finally the freshmen.
•Viking Relay – The Viking relay tested each class with a team of four how fast they could put on shoulder pads, a jersey, a helmet, and pick up a football and run to the other side of the field where they would then take it all off again so their teammate could repeat what they had just done until the winners were determined. The winner of this event were the juniors who finished a great distance ahead of the rest followed by

At the pep rally this year the cheerleaders started up the crowd with some new routines and songs to get students pumped up. The couches from each fall sport then presented their team. After the cheerleaders did a couple more routines the guys’ volleyball game began.
It was an exciting and tense game to watch. First up were the seniors vs. freshmen. The seniors won and would play the winners on the sophomores vs. the juniors. In the end seniors versed the juniors. It was very rousing game to see the guys compete for the winning spot. Eventually, the juniors came out on top and won the game.

Couples on the Dance Floor

This year’s homecoming dance was exciting and upbeat. Many students came with their nice dresses or nice button-up shirt. At 10:00 pm homecoming court was presented. The freshmen couple was Mary Strause and Mason Zeimet, sophomores were Megan Petty and Dillon Manley, juniors were Amberly Canales and Joey Frea, and the AFS student, Lucas Frege, was with Kristin Olson. The two senior couples were Emily Borde and John Lange and Sara Borde and Calvin Canales. Students at the dance voted who would be the king and queen of this year’s 2009 homecoming and most of the votes went to Emily Borde and John Lange. Congratulations! As the danced continued everyone jammed out on the dance floor.