Students jumped, cheered and danced their way to victory Friday night for the annual Yell Like Hell pep rally in McAfee Gym.

In the Greek division, the group including Alpha Gamma Delta, Delta Chi and Phi Kappa Theta took first place, the group made up of Alpha Phi and Pi Kappa Alpha won second and Sigma Sigma Sigma and Sigma Chi took third place.

Only one registered student organization competed in Yell Like Hell. The Latin American Student Organization ended up getting first in this division, wearing bright red and blue skirts, and using them as they danced across the floor.

Holding the first-place trophy in his hand, Dalton Davison, a member of Delta Chi and junior computer information and technology major, said it feels amazing to win.

Being a part of Color Guard in high school at Eastern, he already loved being able to cheer again.

“With Color Guard, you brought smiles to people’s faces, got them all pumped up,” Davison said. “We’re doing it again (with Yell Like Hell).”

To celebrate the win, Davison said they would probably do some more team bonding.

“I feel like this was a spectacular (way) to win end Homecoming week overall,” Davison said.

Davison said working with Alpha Gamma Delta brought the Greek Life together.

“I love working with them so much,” Davison said. “They’re full of laughs and full of spirit.”

Kelsey Jones choreographed Alpha Gamma Delta’s routine for Yell Like Hell. She and another member started working on it over the summer, putting the routine together piece by piece until it finally came together.

This was Jones’ first year competing in Yell Like Hell with a sorority, instead of Eastern’s cheerleading team.

She said her former cheerleading experience gave her the knowledge to put together a routine.

“Doing my hair and getting ready, doing all of the motions again — it was pretty much second nature,” Jones said. “I just did what I knew I could.”

Still, she was nervous in the days leading up to Yell Like Hell.

“I knew we had a routine (and) we could win, it was just whether or not we could execute it,” Jones said. “I knew we just wanted to go out there have a good time, have fun and we did.”

Though Jones said she put in a lot of hours and lose a lot of sleep preparing for Yell Like Hell, she was happy with the final result.

Jones said it was somewhat nerve-wracking to be performing.

“There are so many eyes watching you, that see your every move,” Jones said. “I just tell everyone to keep calm, take a deep breath, push through, smile and just compete. Give it all you got.”

There was also a competition to decorate spirit banners, which were hung around the gymnasium in McAfee as organizations cheered and danced.

Getting second place in the RSO division was LASO and first was Epsilon Sigma Alpha. In the Greek division for spirit banners, Alpha Sigma Tau and Lambda Chi Alpha got first, Alpha Sigma Alpha and Sigma Pi got second and in third place was Delta Zeta and Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

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