“That’s him,” senior Justin Lancisi heard as two girls, armed with water guns, darted across the street. Lancisi scrambled to safety as they chased him, slipping on the floor of his garage and sliding into the wall. A few minutes later, Lancisi, now wearing his protective floatie, returned and began examining the ransacked battlefield. A splotch of water dripped down the wall right above where Lancisi’s head had been. Lancisi let out a sigh of relief; he would live to see another day. 

With around 400 competitors and well over $1000 on the line, this year’s senior assassin is set to be the largest and most competitive one yet. 

“It’ll be crazy,” senior Romina Dadkhah said. 

“Senior assassin is a year-long game that only seniors can participate in,” said junior TJ Hubble, who, along with junior Nick Henry, organized this year’s competition. Seniors partner up and try to “assassinate” other competitors with water guns until only one team remains. 

Every two weeks, teams are randomly assigned targets, Hubble explained. Competitors can protect themselves from their assassins by wearing floaties, but getting caught without one eliminates you for the entire year. 

“If you’re shot with a water gun [off-campus] without a floatie on, you’re out,” Hubble said. 

The official rules can be found in detail under the Senior Assassin 2022 Instagram page. Additionally, video footage of every single assassination is posted and available for everyone to see. 

Already, the competition has been fierce. From surprise attacks at Chick-fil-A to sneaky camouflage ambushes, seniors are finding more and more creative ways to assassinate their targets. One of the craziest eliminations so far, noted Hubble and Henry, who have to review and verify every assassination, was when senior Caden Lang was shot by a water gun through his car window while stopped at a red light.

“The rule says you’re not allowed to shoot anyone in the passenger or driver’s seat if the car is moving,” Hubble said. “But we did count the kill because the car was stopped.”

However, even with the competitive spirit and money on the line, no team has ever been crowned champions before.

“[There are] so many teams, and it usually goes on forever,” Hubble said. He noted that the competitions from past years have gone all the way into the summer after graduation. 

Competition aside, senior assassin is beginning to solidify itself in Creek culture, joining other senior traditions such as senior pants, senior sunset, and the senior gift. It has become a fun and fierce tradition for seniors to celebrate during their last year at Creek. 

“I think it’s kind of funny [that] it’s stalkerish, you have to literally find where people live and track them,” Dadkhah said. “But that’s also kind of fun in its own way.”

Overall, Lancisi explained, senior traditions are an opportunity to have lighthearted fun after their years of hard work. 

“After [going] to this school for four years, we deserve to have some fun.” 

This article won Honorable Mention Lifestyle Coverage from CSMA.