McAfee Gym was packed as students cheered for their Greek groups and registered student organizations at “Yell Like Hell.”

Alpha Phi sorority and Sigma Nu fraternity won the overall event in the Greek division; Delta Delta Delta sorority and Delta Tau Delta fraternity won second place and Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority and Delta Chi fraternity won third place.

Epsilon Sigma Alpha sorority won in the RSO division.

The teams were judged based on their commitment, fundamental skills, group technique and overall effort.

The 12 groups competed together, with sororities and fraternities pairing up.

All around the gymnasium hung posters from different halls and organizations.

The Panther Marching Band started off the night with the “Fight Song” and continued with contemporary songs like “Uptown Funk” and “Uma Thurman.”

The Pink Panthers and cheerleaders then performed.

Shirmeen Ahmad, the student body president, and Omar Solomon, an admissions counselor, emceed the pep rally, encouraging students to show their Eastern pride.

Homecoming Princess Astoria Griggs-Burns said she has seen a lot of school spirit during Homecoming Week, and Homecoming Queen Kelsey Hosea said everyone has been showing her love that week.

“Everything I went to has been amazing,” Hosea said.

Many of the songs the groups performed to were from the ‘90s or early 2000s such as “This is How We Do It,” “Mambo No. 5”, and “Hey Ya!”

One team, Alpha Phi, even danced to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

Some of them incorporated a theme in their acts, such as Kappa Delta sorority and Sigma Alpha Epsilon, a fraternity who made theirs “Boys vs. Girls.”

All of the teams cheered in support of school spirit, wearing blue and holding up signs to cheer on Eastern in the Homecoming game the next day.

Many created cheers and made pyramids with their groups.

“It’s a good thing I’m not judging,” Ahmad said. “I would have given all of you the prize.”

It was not just sororities and fraternities who competed. Black Student Union and African Student Association danced and cheered as well.

To keep up with the theme of “100 Never Looked So Good,” the emcees also took the audience through a “musical journey” throughout the years.

They played songs like “Sweet Caroline,” “My Girl” and “Bye Bye Bye” by the band ‘N Sync.

During halftime, student government used raffle tickets to pick people to come up on stage and play a game where they had to throw a ball into a cup and empty a box of tissues the fastest.

Jillian Sebastiani, a senior communication studies major from Alpha Phi, said winning “Yell like Hell” felt unbelievable.

Sebastiani has a cheering background, as well as other sports, which she said helped in her performance.

“Especially with tumbling and everything,” Sebastiani said

This is Alphi Phi’s second year as winners of the pep rally.

“I’m so proud of my team,” Sebastiani said. “I couldn’t have expected any more from us.”

Sebastiani said it was a great feeling.

“All the hard work and dedication to win this two-peat,” Sebastiani said. “It feels awesome and I’m hoping for next year we can do it again.”

Cassie Buchman can be reached at 581-2812 or cjbuchman@eiu.edu