Prospect Hill claimed its first House Cup Monday at House Games, the conclusion to a year’s worth of activities and competitions at Hayes High School.

The House Cup is awarded to one of the eight houses at Hayes at the end of every school year. Throughout the year, the houses go head-to-head in a variety of athletic, academic and artistic competitions, and earn a number of points. The points are totalled during the final day of competitions, House Games, which took place Monday.

Hayes Principal Rex Reeder announced Prospect Hill as the winner on the field of Cornell Stadium Monday.

“To me, winning the House Cup is a culmination of all year and and a lot of events,” Reeder said. “We had a diverse number of games, so it really tests your mettle as a house to be able to do that. All the houses played hard today. We had a number of seniors come back. A lot of them wouldn’t miss it.”

The House Cup has been won by Steamtown in five of the last six years, and Reeder said students were excited to have a different team take the cup.

“Having a new champion is always good to spread the wealth a little bit,” he said.

Phil Carr, one of the deans of Prospect Hill, said the win felt “really good.”

“It was all the kids,” Carr said Monday. “We had a really good group of kids who worked hard, led with some of our seniors, but it was all them. They worked their butts off, and they wanted this. I’m proud of them.”

Carr said he enjoyed seeing students from a variety of backgrounds come together to work towards the House Cup.

“It’s an awesome feeling seeing all these guys come together and work for the common good,” he said.

Amanda Johnson, another dean of Prospect Hill, said she’s “really proud” of the students in her house.

“They had a great year,” Johnson said. “The senior class is small, but they’re mighty. We couldn’t have done it without their leadership and the leadership of the other kids. Hopefully, we can keep it rolling in the next year. It’s really cool to see all the different facets of students come together in Prospect Hill and house in general. They showed they have skills in all kinds of things, so it’s really cool to see them come together to win this.”

Audra Lyon, a senior who graduated last week, returned for the games and said ending her time at Hayes with the House Cup felt “really awesome.”

“We’ve been working really hard,” Lyon said. “We really came together like one big family and to win is just awesome. It’s a great end to senior year. It feels great to mix it up. It’s always the same two teams winning, so for it not to be Steamtown or Sugar Grove is awesome.”

Lyon said she will be attending the University of Tampa this fall, where she will also play lacrosse.

Abrianna Hite, another recent graduate, said the win felt “really good,” and she’s pleased that Prospect Hill earned recognition.

“I feel like Prospect is not one of the ones thought to be the best,” Hite said. “(We’re) finally showing everyone that we are number one. I knew all year we’ve been doing really good. We won Lip Sync and Powder Puff football and don’t normally win those. I feel like the whole school doesn’t like that it’s (always) those two. I think mostly everyone is happy it’s not one of the ones who is always winning everything.”

Hite said she will be attending Ohio Wesleyan University, where she will also be competing in track.

Reeder said he has been working with teachers and deans at the school to improve House and is considering having a cup for the Ice Games in the winter, a cup for the spring semester of competitions, and a cup for the winner of the House Games. He added if a team manages to win all three, it could earn a new Triple Crown.

“I think it’ll make this event more exciting,” Reeder said. “We’re excited. We’re going to keep trying to evolve. We can change gears and have different ideas, and it’s going to run pretty strong. Kids are really happy today. It’s neat to see them engaged and happy. It was a good day.”

Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903.