Rivals United events raise over $32,000

VW independent/submitted information

Another Rivals United Event has come to a successful close, with this year’s Rivals United winner being Lincolnview. 

The week-long event began on February 28, with a fun FFA basketball game held at Lincolnview. Donations of $950 were raised that night.

The students worked hard with social media challenges, signs & different spirit week events. Considering the cold and freezing weather and canceling of school the students were still ahead of last year’s total.

On January 31, the girls’ game started with a tailgate party. Despite the cold weather, students raised $978.50. The Granny Shoot-out, which was won by Crestview, earned the school an extra $200 towards its school total. Sponsors for the event were State Farm Insurance agent Tisha Fast and Kulwicki-Hilton Insurance. 

The next event of the evening was the Dash for Cash, where Lincolnview fans contributed $885.84 and Crestview fans added $390.67. 

This was a good showing of students and fans, considering school had been closed most of the week.

Leading into Friday evening’s game, the Lincolnview Lancers were in the lead with $13,564.01 while the Crestview Knights had raised $8,966.99. 

Friday evening began with a friendly doughnut rating contest between the two schools’ resource officers. Van Wert County Sheriff Tom Riggenbach was the official judge for the event between Mike Biberstine and John Gabriel. Lincolnview received a $100 donation from the DARE program to go towards the school’s total.

The final Dash for Cash was held during the first quarter of the varsity game and $9,396.40 was collected by both schools. Crestview raised $5,917.85 of that total and Lincolnview $3,478.55. Mini-basketballs sponsored by Wilkinson’s Printing and Convoy Tastee Freeze were then thrown into the stands for the dedicated cold-weather fans.

When it all ended, Lincolnview was the winning team with $17,142.56, while Crestview raised $14,884.84. Crestview High School Principal Dave Bowen was a great sport and wore Lincolnview’s t-shirt for the remainder of the game and joined the student cheering section.

United Way Executive Director Vicki Smith said she was grateful to both schools for raising a total of $32,027.40 for United Way of Van Wert County agencies, as well as all the sponsors that helped make this another successful community event.