The 13th annual senior cookie pie-eating contest broke records and raised money for the Senior Class Gift on Thursday, February 21.

Senior Wil Stowers, one of the organizers of the event and member of the Senior Class Giving Committee, welcomed spectators to the Green Room at the Colgate Inn by listing the rules of the contest and engaging the crowd to make a donation for the Gift.

The competition featured seniors Brandon Galeano, Josh Haubenstock, J.P. McMahon, Bobby Pereira and Charlie Sklow. The competitors had ten minutes to eat as much cookie pie as they could without using their hands.

Stowers said that in the past 13 years, no one had ever finished an entire cookie pie. This record was broken twice over by Galeano and Pereira.

Pereira finished the pie by the eighth minute, but left some whipped cream behind. Galeano ate until the timer ran out and managed to devour nearly every crumb, earning him the title of 2019 Cookie Pie Eating Contest Winner. All the other contestants managed to finish the majority of their pies.

“Ever since I was a child I had a dream to win a pie-eating contest, and here I am. It was tough but I persevered,” Galeano said.

In September, Galeano first achieved this goal by winning an apple pie-eating contest at the Colgate Community Garden’s Fall Fest.

The competitors employed multiple innovative tactics, such as pouring the milk directly onto the pie. Haubenstock, who claimed to have not eaten in three days, began the contest by flipping his tin upside down and smashing his forehead onto the bottom of the pie.

This method effectively broke the pie into more manageable pieces. This technique was imitated by everyone except Galeano.

Sklow caught on in under a minute. Pereira flipped his pie before the two-minute mark, but not before getting a face full of whipped cream, which he sported until the competition ended.

Both Haubenstock and Pereira vomited during the event and then continued to eat the pie.

“That was hard fought and honestly a little disgusting to watch,” Stowers said when announcing the winner.

All the contestants smiled and congratulated Galeano when Stowers announced him as the winner.

Many spectators held cardboard signs to cheer on their friends.

“I thought it was really funny and a lot of fun if not a little gross,” senior Matt Zee said.

Students interested in making a donation to the Senior Class Gift can do so by Venmoing @ colgateuniv. If 90 percent of the senior class gives any amount of money towards the class gift, The Class of 2019 Bicentennial Courtyard will be built as the class gift between the O’Connor Campus Center and Andrews Hall.

Contact Elizabeth Shaw at [email protected].