Many members of Washburn’s men’s basketball and women’s tennis helped serve soup and ice cream to students roaming through the Memorial Union at the first What’s SoUP? event, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024.
The event was created to give students an opportunity to grab a bite to eat and support student-athletes.
The athletes had fun serving up some treats. Michael Keegan, junior men’s basketball player, had a blast giving out free soup and also knew it was a good way to get support from Washburn students.
“We do it to promote going to games this week,” Keegan said. “We also do it to see friendly faces and be able to talk to people and interact with them.”
Brady Christiansen, sophomore men’s basketball player, agreed with his fellow teammate on their involvement while he was serving up chicken noodle soup.
“It means more to people and it will make their day,” Christiansen said.
That also can be said for the women’s tennis team, who was handing out ice cream and is ranked 15th in the country. Issabella Pensavalle, junior tennis player, made it clear why they got involved in the event.
“Honestly, just getting involved in the community and getting to know people, especially getting them familiar with tennis,[is why we do it]” Pensavalle said.
Many of the players showcased which soup and ice cream would be their choice. Freshman Brayden Shorter of the men’s basketball team prefers chicken noodle soup but the crowd often chose baked potato soup. Martine Carroll, freshman, and Isabella Martensson, junior, of the women’s tennis team both agreed that peach mango ice cream reigned supreme.
The men’s basketball team will be at home Saturday to take on Northwest Missouri State University, and the women’s tennis team will head to Indianapolis over the weekend to take on No. 12 University of Indianapolis and No. 8 Wayne State College.
Edited by Jeremy Ford and Stuti Khadka
