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Halloween was last week, and what is better than smashing pumpkins on the campus of Old Dominion 91¶ÌÊÓƵ? The annual Pumpkin Drop, sponsored by the ODU Society of Physics Students (SPS), has been a popular fall tradition for over two decades. This year the competition may have been the most intense ever. Each entrant - usually teams of students - was challenged to build a portable contraption that could "catch" a pumpkin dropped from atop the nine-story Batten Arts and Letters Building. Photos by Chuck Thomas and David B. Hollingsworth.

2019 Gallery Pumpkin Drop

Daniel Akers retrieves a pumpkin that survived the nine-story fall. Photo David B. Hollingsworth/ODU

2019 Gallery Pumpkin Drop

Physics students take videos of the falling pumpkins. Photo David B. Hollingsworth/ODU

2019 Gallery Pumpkin Drop

Victoria Tabibi, master of ceremony, starts the countdown for the Pumpkin Drop. Photo David B. Hollingsworth/ODU

2019 Gallery Pumpkin Drop

Society of Physics Students use liquid nitrogen to make ice cream. Photo David B. Hollingsworth/ODU

2019 Gallery Pumpkin Drop

Spectators line the sidewalk to watch pumpkins being dropped. Photo David B. Hollingsworth/ODU

2019 Gallery Pumpkin Drop

Pumpkins littered the grounds of BAL after the annual event. Photo David B. Hollingsworth/ODU

Dozens of pumpkins plunged nine stories from atop the Batten Arts and Letters Building on Tuesday afternoon. Photo Chuck Thomas/ODU

Robert Godwin drops a pumpkin from atop the Batten Arts and Letters Building while other members of the Society of Physics Students watch. Photo Chuck Thomas/ODU

As part of the grand finale, students dropped multiple pumpkins trying to hit various pumpkin catchers. Photo Chuck Thomas/ODU

To prove Galileo's principle, students drop two pumpkins from the roof at the same time. Photo David B. Hollingsworth/ODU

Evan Johnson aims a pumpkin at the catcher below. Photo by Chuck Thomas/ODU

Students from ODU’s Children’s Learning and Research Center watch as pumpkins fall from the top of the Batten Arts and Letters Building. Photo Chuck Thomas/ODU

Only a few feet from impact, will this pumpkin be snared by the catcher? Photo David B. Hollingsworth/ODU

The drawn-on eyes and hat did not save this pumpkin from getting smashed. Photo Chuck Thomas/ODU