Spotlight: Monica Martin de Bustamante '08 and Annie Stanley '08

Monica Martin de Bustamante '08 and Annie Stanley '08 finished their last season with the varsity women's soccer team earlier this year. Now they're looking for new outlets for their competitive spirit -- enter the Class of 2008 pong tournament, no boys allowed of course. How did you come up with this '08 pong tournament idea?Monica: We were playing pong in KDE basement and just kind of throwing out ideas of what would be fun to do with the Class of 2008 girls Spring term and then thought of this. We talked to a lot of '08 KDEs, and everyone seemed really excited about it, but no one wanted to organize it. More than anything else it was just that someone needed to plan it. Annie: We were originally going to find some sort of committee to arrange or fund it but then figured we'd just do it ourselves. M: It's kind of like reliving your sophomore summer.A: Except this tourney is not house-related.M: Because throughout four years, you finally meet people that are not in your house or on your team and the Masters tournament is completely affiliated. A: So you just have to be an '08 girl to play in this tourney.How did you start organizing it?M: Well, we Blitzed out and we got a really good response -- about 80, 81 teams, so 162 girls.A: It's a pretty good showing. M: The opponents are all done randomly. We found a number randomizer on the Internet and used it to put everyone on the bracket.A: There are a lot of girls. We don't even know most of the people.What round are you up to?M: Right now we're on the second round and the tourney goes throughout the entire term. You have two weeks to play the game with your opponents and you decide if you play a game of one tree or best out of three with shrub. A: And the final fifth, sixth and seventh rounds are going to be played Senior Week on a random day. M: Someone who lost is actually trying to get the GDX pit for that day! She said she still wants to be really involved.A: We just update the bracket.Are you guys competing too?M: Yes! We will be playing next week. Hopefully Tuesday. Are there prizes?M: We're probably going to make some T-shirts at the end.A: We don't know about prizes yet.M: But definitely something for the winners.A: Bragging rights.Are you guys doing this because you're not taking classes senior spring or something? M: No. I'm taking two engineering and one Italian class, both major classes. A: Well, I'm only taking two classes.M: I couldn't fit a B.E. in engineering in four years with soccer and another major so I'm doing it in five.Will you live on campus next year?M: Well, wonderful ORL decided that fifth-year engineering students can't live in campus housing. For the B.E., you're an undergrad still but the College doesn't recognize you anymore as a student so they leave you to fend for yourself.But you're still going to hang out?M: I should say 'No, I'm going to try to be a real student,' but I'll probably hang out.Do people bring up the tournament with you guys all the time?M: It generally comes up, or people Blitz us to tell us their issues and ask like what they should do. Annie and I talk about it whenever we get the results.A: But Monica sends out all the Blitzes --M: So most people send their questions to me.People are taking this so seriously?M: Yeah, we have deadlines for each round and sometimes people Blitz us for extensions. General thoughts about pong? I've just started playing this year.M: Really? I feel like I've liked the game since my recruiting trip.A: Yeah, we always played since we had older people that were in sororities, so it was easier to get into [pong] because they taught us how to play. It's also competitive, so -- M: This is our new sport.A: Or we pretend it is.M: Coach is not going to like that. A: Well, maybe she doesn't read this far in The D.