Intersquad Meet and the Cross Country Banquet!

Some of the Team, Hanging out!

This past weekend for me, was one that was all about sports, which is definitely a great way to avoid the stress coming from finals! On friday night, there was a banquet for all of the different fall sports, and it was great to get another varsity letter, and get to hear about all of the success all of our different athletic teams had this fall. One thing I really like about Coe is just how supportive everyone is of all of the different organizations, I love the fact that not only do I go to things like football games, tennis matches and swim meets, but also that the swimmers and the tennis and football players will come out and watch us run!

Start of the 1k!

My Brother Pole Vaulting!

On Saturday we had our first offical full team meeting, and it was also an intersquad meet, where everyone got to race against teammates, and sort of gauge where they are after their fall training. I personally did not race, as my ribs are still not allowing me to run, but it was great to get to be there supporting my teammates, and I know that come January 12th I will be able to race hard! As a whole, everyone not only got to race, but this was also a great opportunity to get to know our teammates!

One of our Jumpers, Flying!

head to head in the 300!

Although the meet, and the all sports banquets were fun, my favorite part of the weekend was actually Sunday, which was our cross country team banquet. For this banquet, we get to go to a really nice brunch place in Cedar Rapids, and eat some pretty awesome food! We also get the opportunity to meet one last time as a whole team, and celebrate our season, and honor our seniors! It was awesome all being together, and it made me realize how lucky I am to be on a team that is as close as we are, and I know that they will always have my back!
Until The Next Adventure,
Ryan Rey

Sophomore Cross Country Class!

Mackelmore and Formal Phi Tau Meeting!

What a great looking group

This week started off with a meeting, where we all got to get really dressed up, and celebrated our successful event LumberJack Fest, while also having our elections for the following year. I was lucky enough to be named our treasurer, and I am looking forward to the challenge!

Mackelmore!!

 As the week progressed, so did the stress! With finals coming up, one thing that really helped me Destress was actually going to the Mackelmore and Ryan Lewis concert with my friends, and it was without a doubt one of the best concerts I have ever been to! I really enjoy his music, because he actually raps and sings about things that are meaningful, instead cars money and girls. I suggest that all of you guys go check his stuff out, you will like him alot! During the concert, a few of my friends even got to crowd surf, and we were able to get really close to the front!   As a whole this concert was a great way to get out of our stressful lives for a night, and just enjoy some great music. Cedar Rapids is a great area because in about an hour each direction(we drove two), you will always be able to find some great concerts, and as a college student, Concerts are something that are always worth it!
Until The Next Adventure,

At the Concert!

Ryan Rey

LumberJack Fest!

LumberJack Photo Shoot?

Every year, once a year, my fraternity has a giant campus wide fundraiser called LumberJack Fest. During this fundraiser, we do things like serve pancakes, have a beard competition, have a flannel fashion show, and even let people raise money shave our beards, which we have been working on for the whole month of November! I would have to say that my beard was without a doubt the best, but somehow I did not win the beard competition:( As a whole, this fundraiser was a huge success, and we raised a lot of money for our national charity! One thing I really like about Coe is just how supportive the whole campus is of each other, and LumberJack Fest was a perfect example of that, everyone came out and supported, instead of sleeping in, because everyone here really is like a family.....and who would miss out on all you can eat pancakes?

Finished Product!

In the end, My beard was shaved into a great moustache, which I will hopefully be keeping for a long time!


Until The Next Adventure, Ryan Rey

The Track Team looking great in Flannel, and supporting a good cause!

Thanksgiving Break full of pictures!

Resteraunt with friends, its good to be back!

This thanksgiving was the first one that I didn't have with my whole family, since most of them were in Arkansas, so my brother and I headed back to Illinois for a weekend full of great food, family, and friends! It was great to go back to my hometown, enjoy restaurants they don't have in Iowa,
  and get to spend time with people I have been missing a lot!

Chief Lizzy on thanksgiving!

 Over break, I did things have a thanksgiving meal with 26 of my friends, that consisted of not only the typical turkey and potatoes, but also Taco Bell,  (classy i know).

Pizza Rolls, So Good!

 I also journeyed to Walmart in the middle of the night on an adventure to get pizza rolls!
 The next day, I was able to go to a place called trampoline world, where the whole place is full of trampolines to jump on, and it was an awesome way to get a workout, without running!

Trampoline World!

 Later on, my brother and I gave a tour of Plainfield to our friend Amy, from Coe. We did things like show off our track, our best restaurant, and finally our old house!

Giving Amy a tour!

Theater picture!

  On thanksgiving day, I also got to take my youngest cousins to see Wreck it Ralph, and It was outstanding! I suggest that everyone who is reading this blog should stop reading and immediately head to the theater to go see it!






I also was lucky enough to go black friday shopping for the first time ever! It was a night filled with excitement, but also I wish i would have slept, instead of staying out until 4 in the morning!

Black Friday Shopping, I am soo tired!

Finally on my last night in Plainfield, I went with some of my closest friends to a huge singing competition to watch my friend Sam sing. She was incredible, and it was great to see her doing what she loves in front of so many people, and in such a historic and beautiful building.

I could not ask for better friends!

 Overall, this was a weekend was one that I will never forget, filled with the people that I love, and I cant wait for the next time that I spend time back home. I am looking forward to the next few weeks at Coe, and being able to start running again, and having our huge school wide fundraiser, Lumberjack Fest, this upcoming weekend!
Until the Next Adventure, Ryan Rey

Getting back into the swing of things

BEST BREAD EVER!!

Now that my season is officially over, it seems like a part of me is just missing! Instead of going to practice everyday, I can instead shift back and focus more on my classes, and making sure that my grades are where they are supposed to be! I have been working really hard on my politics speech coming up, and recently started my final research paper for Biopsych, on concussions in sports. It is a great feeling to be all caught up, and get to enjoy some free time! One thing that is really cool about going to school in a bigger city like Cedar Rapids is that there are so many great restaurants for us to explore! This past week, I got to go to the Irish Democrat, an awesome smaller place, with the best cheese wontons I have ever tasted! I also got to go to Granite City, for a friends birthday, and we all got to eat some of the best free bread in the whole world! I look forward to eating at all of the best resteraunts in Cedar Rapids before I graduate, and if you have any suggestions for awesome food places, feel free to let me know!
Until The Next Adventure, Ryan Rey

Regionals

This past weekend, we traveled to Northfield Minnesota, for the NCAA regional cross country meet, hosted by St. Olaf College to compete for what would end up being our last meet of the season. This trip was a longer one, but as a team we always find ways to make the time fly!

Bus Ride Fun!

 Once we got to the meet, we headed straight to Perkins for a team dinner, before heading back to the hotel and calling it a night. The next day, we woke up and it was perfect racing weather, the team could not wait to get started! Everyone that put on a Kohawk uniform that day gave absolutely everything they had, and that is something that our whole team can be proud of! We finished the meet with one all region performer, our senior and captain, and that is a huge accomplishment, that shows all of the work he has been putting in since his freshman year. I cannot wait until track starts again, and will be looking forward to working towards improving myself, and seeing that improvement for the next few years!
Until the Next Adventure, Ryan Rey

Interesting couple of days!

The past few days have been extremely packed, but also very exciting! Two days ago, we began planning for our recycling club dance, which is going to make history as the most fun event EVER in Coe College history! Also last night, I was elected to the Interfraternal Council board as Vice President of Service, and I look forward to planning some great philanthropy events in the next few months! Finally about twenty minutes ago, I was chosen as the the communications editor for a literary work here at Coe called Colere! For more information on Colere, you can check out our website at colere.coe.edu! Overall, It is awesome to be able to get involved in so many things here on campus so easily, and I look forward to making my voice heard, and continuing to make Coe an awesome place not just to get an education, but to get grow as an individual!
Until the Next Adventure,
Ryan Rey
p.s. Keep an eye out for my next blog, which will be all about visits here at Coe! It's gonna be prettty cool!

Election day!

Today was the first election that I was old enough to vote for, and here at Coe, it seemed like the whole campus was buzzing with exitement! It was awesome that teachers and other students were offering every student rides to polling places, so that everyone would be able to vote! Again, that is just a testament to how all of Coe is really like its own tight knit community, and I wouldn't trade it for the world! Right now, I am watching the electoral votes come in, and can not help but think about how different things will be in the year 2032, when I am running for President. There will simply be no arguing, becuase everyone will simply love my running mate, Ethan Wykert, and I. I hope that everyone reading this will be able to vote REY/WYKERT 2032!
Until the Next Adventure,

The Future of Our Country!

Ryan Rey

Halloween Pub Dance!!!

Growing up, Halloween was always my favorite holliday, and when I first came to college, I was worried that no one in college would want to dress up and celebrate! Luckily here at Coe, there are many different opportunities for students to still get to dress up, no matter how old we are. Every year, Coe's student activities committee plans a halloween dance in the PUB, where students can come in costume, dance and enjoy free food and halloween activities! This year, a group of my friends decided to be pokemon and pokemon trainers, so I was Ash Ketchum. This dance was a great experience, as we got to all sort of go back to being children for a whole night, instead of having to stress out about classes and GPA's and we instead got to eat candy and do the monster mash! If anyone reading this blog has any good costume ideas for next year, feel free to email me at Rcrey@coe.edu! Also if you are interested in visiting, let me know, and we can figure out a date!

Halloween as Pokemon, best costume ever?

Until The Next Adventure,

Ryan Rey

Conference meet at home!

Running the conference meet!

This last weekend was without a doubt our most important meet of the season so far. The conference meet is what we have been training for our whole season, and this year we are lucky enough to get to host the whole meet! Hosting the meet comes with many advantages, not only do we know the course better, but we also get the advantage of having the most fans, because the meet is five minutes away from our campus, allowing our student body to come out and support us! As a whole, the race went well, we had our senior captain place 6th overall, which in a conference as strong as ours, is an outstanding feat. For me personally, I ran a really smart race, and was able to pass alot of people in the second half, by running smart, and trusting the training and hardwork that I have been putting in all season! It was a great end to the season, and I look forward to heading up to St Olaf in a couple of weeks for the NCAA regional meet!

What a GREAT group of superfans!

Birthday Coe Style

Today was my first birthday ever here at Coe! Last year, I was actually in Madison for a writing conference, so I was still unsure what to expect having my birthday in such a close community like Coe! Overall it was a great day, and one great thing about being at such a small school is that  everyone really does know everyone, and everyone here really went out of their way to do nice things for me! I woke up to happy birthday being played, and my roomates made me breakfast, which was awesome!

Breakfast In Bed! Courtesy of my roomates

 As the day went on, people would stop me and wish me happy birthday,  and not only students, but teachers too. After my classes, I went to practice, and it was a great workout, there is no better feeling in the world than working hard, and feeling accomplished after you are done! The last great thing that happenend on my birthday actually happened in our dining hall, a few teammates actually got the whole dining hall to sing me happy birthday. It was pretty embarassing at first, but it also made me realize that there is nothing quite like this small school feel that we are able to get every single day here at Coe. I realized at that point that there is no place in the whole world I would rather be that part of this COEmunity:)
Until the Next Adventure,
Ryan Rey

Oshkosh meet!

Reunited with my friends!!

Every year, The Coe cross country team drives up to Oshkosh Wisconsin, to run on a super flat and fast course, but unfortunately the past two years, we have been pretty unlucky with the weather! Last year, it was extremely windy, and this year it was storming and pooring rain during our whole race! I was able to still run a great race, as I actually ran my fastest time of the season, with the awful weather! After the meet, it was fall break so I was able to return home and spend time with my friends for a couple days, before coming back to school! It is awesome that Coe has a fall break that allows its students to do this, instead of not having any breaks until thanksgiving! I definitily enjoyed the break from classes, but it will be good to get my head back into everything!
Until the Next Adventure,
Ryan Rey

KCOE Radio

Hey everyone!
Today was a pretty awesome day, because I got asked to do a radio show here on campus, were I basically get to talk and play music for a couple hours a week! This is a great experience because it not only is alot of fun, but it will also look great on a resume. I love that here at Coe, opportunites like this are available to me, even though I am not a communications major here at Coe! I look forward to entertaining everyone every Tuesday night, 9-11! If you guys are potential students interested Coe, and have any questions for me about anything, or want to see me blog about anything specific, feel free to Email me at Rcrey@coe.edu! Also if you are interested in listening to me on the radio tune into Kcoe48.com and click listen live!

My Co-host Connor Swanson

Until the Next Adventure,
Ryan Rey

Lamb Kohawk Invitational!

Even though it was freezing, we were on fire! Great day to be a Kohawk!

This past saturday was a day that will go down in history for the Coe College cross country team! It was our home cross country meet, but for the first time ever, instead of running at our usual course, we decided to run it at a brand new course at at Noelridge Park in Cedar Rapids! My favorite part about running a meet so close to our school is that so many students come out and support us, and that we allow our alumni to field a team, it is great to be able to race with them again! Honestly one of my favorite things about Coe is how everyone here really is like one big family, and this cross country meet really did an awesome job of showing that! I would say there were over a hundred students and teachers there watching and cheering us on, and it was great to have them all there. Even though it was a freezing day, our whole team ran extremely well, and Andrew Dewar won the whole meet! Personally, I ran a season best, and I was really excited to be able to get to run on a great course, I cant wait until the next time we all get to race on this course, for the Iowa Intercollegate conference championships later in the fall!

Great to have so many great friends there supporting us!

Until The Next Adventure, Ryan Rey

Homecoming Blog!

This past week was homecoming week here at Coe College! Homecoming here at Coe is a pretty big deal, and the whole week is full of great events including things like a parade, a 5k race, a football game, a bunch of alumni events, a carnival and finally a huge dance for all of the students on saturday night!
During the week, one big thing that happens is Coe's student body gets to chose the homecoming king and queen. All week the homecoming court competes in things like talent shows to influence the students to vote for them. Finally, on friday night, a king and queen were chosen, and announced at a school wide Pep Rally.




Jacob and DeAnna Homecoming King and Queen!

Kyle and Coach Hannah win the 5k

On Saturday all of the fun begins! For me it started with a morning wake up at 6 am, so that I could run before the morning 5k that I was scheduled to work! It was really weird for me working a 5k instead of running it, but it was awesome to see a former teammate Kyle Heineman win the whole thing on the mens side and our coach Hannah Weiss win the womens.

Cross country team working the 5k!

After the 5k, I went straight to the parade, where I walked as a member of my fraternity, It was awesome to get to stroll around Coe with a great group of guys, and hand out candy to students faculty, and Coe alumni.

PKT walking the Parade!

Once the parade ended, I was lucky enough to get to take a power nap, to get back some of the energy I would need for the rest of the day! Following the nap, I went straight to the football game, to watch an undefeated Coe team win in a dominating fashion. What was cool about the game was that there was also a huge carnival outside the stadium, filled with free food! As a college student you learn to enjoy as many opportunities for free food as you can, so this was like paradise for us!

Enjoying the Carnival!

Finally, as it began to get darker, campus was quiet again, as everyone was back in their rooms getting all dressed up for the homecoming dance. I have always loved dances, but what is cool about Coe's dance is that even if you decide dancing isnt for you, there is still plenty of other things to do! It is really cool that every student really does go, so we are all together, and it is always fun to see everyone dressed up!

Coe College! We clean up nice!

Overall, I would say that for me homecoming is my favorite week here at Coe! I am already looking forward to next year, and being able to do it all again!

Until The Next Adventure, Ryan Rey

Augustana Meet! Meeting a Legend!

My friend Annie!

This past weekend, the team traveled down to Rock Island Illinois, for a huge cross country meet! There were over fourty schools present, and it was great to get to run against some friends from my home town! This meet was also great because we were lucky enough to not only run on a super fast course, but we also got to meet one of the greatest American distance runners of all time. Frank Shorter, winner of the marathon gold medal in the 1972 olympics, and the owner of one of the best moustaches ever, behind only Rollie Fingers and Wyatt Earp.

Frank Shorter and Steve Prefontaine, two great runners, and two great moustaches

  Needless to say, we were all really motivated by meeting and talking to one of our idols and ran our hearts out! After the meet, we spent some more time together as a team, and we went to the most amazing sandwhich shop ever, before going back to Coe, and calling it a very successful day!

Until the Next Adventure, Ryan Rey



The Whole Team, with Frank Shorter

Teeter Totterathon!

Great to see other Kohawks out supporting our cause

One thing that is awesome about all of the greek organizations here on Campus is that they do some pretty awesome (and completely random) fundraisers, that involve the whole campus. One of my favorite is the teetertotterathon, which is held by my fraternity, Phi Kappa Tau, and a sorority on campus, the Alpha Omnicron Pi's. Members of both groups work together, and teeter totter for twenty four hours straight. It is cool because since we teeter totter right in the middle of campus, people always come and watch and donate change to our great causes. It was an awesome experiance, and I look forward to being involved and teetertottering for my next couple years here at Coe!

What a great looking group of Phi Taus!

Until The Next Adventure, Ryan Rey

St. Olaf Meet!

For our second meet of the season, we travelled all the way up to Northfield Minnesota, for a Saturday morning meet at St. Olaf. It was an awesome course, and as a team we achieved all of our goals. We were led by our senior Andrew Dewar, who was the fourth D3 runner to finish.



Andrew Dewar runs a 26:21 8k

 Personally, I was feeling pretty good with my race, I was 7th on our team, and there is still plenty of improving to be done. It was awesome to get to race on this course early, and sort of scout it out before November, when we will return as a team for the regional meet. My favorite part about all these long drives we go on, is just the time that we get to spend together as a team, making jokes and playing random games. One thing I learned as a freshman was that if you ever fell asleep on a bus, you would get pictures taken of you, and that is just something you would have to live with....

Nathan Rumpza, our freshman sleeping on the bus.....

  As the season keeps going, I look forward to constantly putting in more miles than I ever have before and consistently getting better, next Friday we will travel to Augustana College for what will be an awesome race there, I look forward to sharing great stories with you!
Until The Next Adventure,

Ryan Rey

First Recycing Committee of The Year!

Me with the Queen of Recycling here at Coe!

Today was the first meeting of Coe's recycling committee, and it was a great start to what I know is going to be a great year as far as recycling goes at Coe. Like I mentioned before, for some reason they named me head of this committee, and it is a huge honor to get to hang out with some of the most dedicated and caring students on campus once a week. I was shocked at how many people showed up, and I hope that people continue to show up as the year continues. At our first meeting we made signs out of cardboard promoting recycling, which we hung up. We also played some get to know you games, and discussed some future ideas, which as of right now are TOP SECRET. I know how upset you guys are, but it will definintely be worth the wait:) If you are a student at Coe, and you are reading this blog, you will without a doubt come to our next meeting, Thursday night in AD lobby, we will have food!  If you are a prospective student and you have any questions about Coe or about recycling or the writing center, or runnning or blogging or anything at all, feel free to email me at rcrey@coe.edu or follow me on twitter at @RyanRun17!
Until The Next Adventure,

Ryan Rey

The Coolest Kids at Coe College!

Off week, Running of the Stairs

This weekend we didn't have a meet, so we instead stayed at Coe and did a lot of team bonding. We all were able to go together to get ice cream at dairy queen after a practice and talk about our season so far. It was really cool to really get to know the other 11 guys on the team, and they are becoming more and more like family. Sunday night was running of the stairs, which is a big deal for the sororities at Coe. All of the girls get really dressed up and basically chose which sorority they want to be in. Our fraternity goes to watch every year, but before we go, we participate in our own very special tradition. This tradition is called the Phi Tau pizza eating contest, this year was a very close competition, but unfortunately my partner Marcus and I burned out and ended up taking third place. I know that next year we will be able to redeem ourselves and go for the win! I can not wait for next years contest, and I will begin training my stomach immediately!
Until the Next Adventure, Ryan Rey

Random Tuesday At Coe!

Today was overall just a great day, my first class was full of excitement, and free candy, which is always ok! Practice was also awesome, it was an easy run, so our girls team decided that we should all wear one color of our choice and call it power ranger day. I wore red, and it was a huge success! The rest of the campus probably thought we were being fools, but it was awesome running around campus looking like one big rainbow. I look forward to our next theme day, and know that it will be as fun! Today was also great because I went to an environmental club meeting and was lucky enough to be named the chair of the recycling committee at Coe! I have a great group of kids on my committee and we are going to do a ton of awesome stuff this year!
Until the Next Adventure,

What a great looking team!

Ryan Rey

First Meet of the Season, and Writing Center Retreat

The Team after our first race!

Yesterday was our first meet of the season, a 5k against Mount Mercy at Jones Park in Cedar Rapids.  As a team we ran very well, and it was a great way to start off an awesome season. Individually it was not one of my better races, but it really woke me up, and let me know that there is still plenty of work to do. After the race and a good nights sleep, I departed to Monticello Iowa for a writing center retreat. On this retreat we got to do awesome things like go on long hikes, and play a ton of volleyball, and even swim in a 50 meter pool for 2 hours. We also had an assignment to write what was on our mind, so I wrote a love story about a Princess and a Dragon. We spent the rest of the weekend editing it, and one day it might even make it onto the big screen:) This coming week at Coe will be full of excitement because of formal recruitment, a few hard practices, and a lot of great upcoming meetings for new clubs! I look forward to getting to see which new people will join all of the different organizations here at Coe!
Until The Next Adventure, Ryan Rey

First week of classes routine

My first week of classes went really well here at Coe, I really like all of my new teachers, and my classes are awesome! It is also an awesome feeling to get back into my daily routine. My new sophmore routine is a little different, and will take a little getting used to. Everymorning, I wake up at about 7, to either go run or lift with the team, before coming back to my apartment for breakfast. At 8:50 my roomates and I all leave for our classes. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I have a 9am class, a 10am class and a class at noon. After my last class, I head straight over to my work study in the admissions office, where I give tours! (shameless plug, if you are a prospective student, you should definately come visit Coe and get a tour from me!!) Tuesday and Thursday, my only class is from 9 to 11 then I work in Coe's Writing Center, helping students become more efficient writers After work, I head to practice which is at 4 everyday, and we go as a team from practice to dinner in the Caf. After dinner, I quickly walk back to my apartment and shower, before going back to the library to study from about 7 to 10 or 11. The cool thing about the library here at Coe is that there are four levels, and each level gets quieter as you go up. Sometimes when I don't have much to do I will go to the library and hangout and get some light studying done on the first floor with a bunch of my friends, but most of the time, I try to study on the second level, where it is quiet and I wont be disturbed. Overall, I would say this is a pretty awesome routine, and I know that it is going to help me successful this semester!
Until the Next Adventure,
Ryan Rey

New Freshman Orientation Week!

My Brother Gordon beginning his own adventure as a Kohawk

Wow! Time really does fly! It seems like just a year ago that I was just coming to Coe, and getting to participate in all of the activities during orientation week! In my opinion, orientation week was one of the best weeks of my first year at Coe, so of course I jumped at the opportuninty to get to help with it as a sophmore. As a volunteer, I did alot of little things like serve ice cream, and set up chairs, but I also got to do some awesome things like attend all of the events and drive a golf cart around campus!(I only crashed once). It was also awesome getting to know the brand new class of freshman, including my brother, and watch them all begin their journey. I will never forget ringing the victory bell for that first time, and it was an even better feeling to get to watch my younger brother wait in that line to ring it as well. It was also great watching all of the freshman compete in the dragon boat races at Palo the next day. I am super excited for this next full year of school, and look forward to not only excelling academically, but also building relationships with new teachers, students and teammates that will last forever. There really is no place like Coe.
Until The Next Adventure,


A Team of Freshman getting ready for their Dragonboat race!

Ryan Rey