LYNNWOOD — For the first time since 2001, Friday’s Edmonds-Woodway vs. Mariner boys-girls doubleheader featured the resurrection of the “Fling the Rubber Chicken” contest between the long-time rivals.
The tradition of flinging the rubber fowl — every bit as mal-adapted for flight as a real chicken — requires selected contestant’s from each of the schools to launch the bird from mid-court at a large bulls-eye on the baseline wall using a giant sling-shot.
E-W won possession of the vaunted rubber chicken trophy when its Associated Study Body president Jackie Simmons and two assistants made a near direct hit on the bulls-eye during halftime of the E-W vs. Meadowdale girls game that preceded the boys game Friday night. Meadowdale’s ASB president and her assistants were unable to find the mark.
Meadowdale had the opportunity to make a comeback when the school principals faced off during halftime of the boys game, but the bid came up short.
The chicken fling originated in 1987 when students from the old Woodway High School and Meadowdale participated in a summer leadership conference, according to Kathy Parker, a former long-time Associated Student Body activities advisor at both Woodway and E-W.
“The kids are the ones who started this,” said Parker who agreed to support the idea along with Kevin Lindemuth, her counterpart at Meadowdale in 1987.
“The kids said we need to do something to improve the spirit between our two schools,” Parker said. “We said ‘Go for it.’”
“It sounded kind of silly,” Parker added. “But they made it work.”
Through the years the chicken fling has been associated with spirited canned food drives and other competitions between the two schools, during basketball season.
Parker said one year the competition included a chicken eating contest between students during halftime of a basketball game.
“The gym floor got greasy,” Parker laughed. “The coaches got mad and that was the end of that.”
“This has done a lot to help the spirit,” Parker said. “It’s really about spirit for the whole community.
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