Armed only with a mouth, a gullet and a pitcher of milk, seven brave Colgate University seniors took on the challenge of a lifetime on the night of Wednesday, March 29, but just one could come out on top. The tension was palpable as the hosts, seniors Jack Robinson and Betsy Figge, readied their signal.
The Senior Class Gift Committee announced the Cookie Pie Eating Competition back in January, continuing the annual Colgate tradition. However, a series of postponements stemming from concerns about upticks in illnesses led the event to be held on March 26 instead of the originally scheduled Feb. 27.
Contestants were chosen by the committee, which solicited and carefully reviewed applications. Application materials included a video proving each student’s qualifications. Contestants were announced along with a blurb about their motivation and experience. Senior Robbie Jacobs shared a salient quote that described what separates those seven fierce athletes from the rest of us.
“A wise man once said, ‘There are producers and there are consumers,’ and I, for one, am a consumer,” Jacobs said.
Consumers they were. Within seconds of the metaphorical gunshot, a flurry of gnashing jaws and tongues broke out. Most competitors dove immediately into the cookie and took few breaks. Others, such as senior Charles Snyder, took a more demure approach, analyzing his pie between bites. One could almost see the calculations going on in his head, surely including the circumference and volume of the remaining food. One contestant, senior Michael D’Ambrosio, even took the inventive approach of pouring his milk straight onto the cookie pie, softening the substance to a malleable mush that could be effectively slurped down his esophagus.
Senior Caroline Harlow began with an especially interesting tactic, gaining an early lead as she slammed her face fearlessly into the dough. It turns out this was a deliberate intimidation technique meant to strike down the morale of her competitors.
“I texted the person that won two years ago […]. She said to drink the water and not the milk. For some reason that worked better for her, and she also said to smack your head into it to break it up at the start. But more so to get a rise out of everyone else, not because it was effective,” Harlow said.
Harlow continued to allow a glimpse into the unrelenting and brilliant mind of an experienced competitive eater as she illustrated the know-how she gained while participating in a meatball-eating competition last year.
“Eat as fast as you can. While you’re still chewing, at the end of the bite, drink so that washes it down. Don’t move your head so far from what you’re eating,” Harlow said. “But half of it is mental. No one talks about that.”
However, this competitive eating experience was not enough to catch the eventual cookie-eating queen, senior Chloe Hunt. She took a more simplistic approach.
“I just kind of went for it; I had no strategy,” Hunt said.
It seems this sort of head-down approach was Hunt’s key to success. The more time taken strategizing, the less time available for chowing down on cookie pie.
As the clock ticked on, it became clear that two contestants were coming out neck and neck. Hunt and D’Ambrosio raced to the finish, both sitting on the far left next to each other. The two-speed eaters barely slowed their pace as they faced down the last few bites of tollhouse pie. In the end, the judges declared the results too close to call between Hunt and D’Ambrosio as cookie pieces lay strewn across the table.
Senior Paul Lynch was spectating the event and witnessed these last moments.
“I could barely see who won, they were both attacking their cookies so hard. When it ended, no one knew what would happen,” Lynch said.
At last, it was decided that the winner should be chosen by a cheering contest. Hunt and D’Ambrosio both had camps cheering vigorously for their champion, but in the end, Hunt’s crowd achieved a higher decibel, and she was crowned the winner.
With that, the Cookie Pie Eating Competition had its 2025 titleholder. No doubt, the fervor and excitement of this beautiful event will be missed until it comes around again next year. One would expect that young hopefuls in the class of 2026 begin their training now — if they have not already — so that they might stand a chance in the cutthroat world of cookie pie speed eating.
