Photos and Story by Caleb Revill / Contributing Writer
Mouths were on fire for a good cause at the MTSU Kappa Delta society’s 14th annual Wing Fling at the Murphy Center on Saturday.
The Wing Fling is Kappa Delta’s annual philanthropy event. Proceeds were donated to organizations that combat child abuse, including the Prevent Child Abuse America charity and the Family Center in Murfreesboro.
Last year, the group raised over $24,000 in support of their chosen charities and hosted over 2,400 attendees.
Though the event is normally held outside, it was held indoors at the Murphy Center this year due to the threat of storms.
Local restaurants, student apartment complexes and Greek organizations all competed to see who could cook the best chicken wing. Some tables even got creative with their chicken opting out of the traditional buffalo style, such as Burger Barn who offered a pad thai chicken wing.
Jefferson’s, one of the local restaurants cooking for event, hosted the wing eating competition, an event that has become a staple at each Wing Fling. Participants raced against the clock to see who would be the first to down their plate of wings covered in Jefferson’s spiciest sauce.
Braxton Churchwell, the winner of the 2016 wing eating competition, won for his second consecutive year. In 2016, he won with a time of one minute and thirty seconds. This year, Churchwell was able to beat his record with an astounding time of one minute and four seconds.
“The wings were hot. My mouth is still on fire,” said Jeremy Fentry, an attendee and member of the MTSU Sigma Pi chapter.
The Wing Fling had many elements for students and community members to enjoy. There was music, dancing, face painting, silent auctions and plenty of piping hot wings for attendees to eat.
Courtney May, Kappa Delta’s Vice President of Community Service, was in charge of planning the event. Her favorite part of the event was the community involvement that went into it, including the attendance from families and the diverse groups of people coming together.
As the event began to wind down, votes for the best wings were tallied. Alpha Omicron won both people’s choice and judge’s choice for the wings, as did Jefferson’s. Alpha Tau Omega won judge’s choice and Phi Kappa Tau won people’s choice.
Later in the event, the fire alarm in the Murphy Center mysteriously went off, and students were evacuated for a short time while the fire department investigated.
Although the cause of the fire alarm going off was unknown, it was not speculated that hot wings were involved in any way.
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