The finals for the annual tug of war competition between the fraternities and sororities was held at Eastern Illinois University’s Campus Pond on Saturday following the semifinals Friday.
The matchup was the sorority championship between Alpha Sigma Alpha and Delta Zeta.
Delta Zeta made it to the finals with a win over Kappa Delta on Monday and a win in the semi-finals against Alpha Gamma Delta on Friday.
Alpha Sigma Alpha got to the finals with a win over Sigma Kappa on Friday, having received a bye.
The match began with Delta Zeta getting an early lead, but Alpha Sigma Alpha was able to hold its ground and began to pull back against Delta Zeta.
“We came in wanting a good competition and that’s what we got,” said Alpha Sigma Alpha member Nautica Long, a junior TV and video production major.
The match was the longest of the day, lasting five minutes and 44 seconds with Alpha Sigma Alpha coming out on top.
“It was a good experience overall, and we’re obviously really happy to have come out on top,” Long said.
Both sides had large crowds with people cheering and holding up signs and flags.
“Everyone was being super supportive,” Long said.
The loss put Delta Zeta in second place.
“It was a lot of mental and physical work, but it was really fun,” Delta Zeta member Hayley Gregory, a sophomore communications major said. “Everyone put in their best efforts, and I’m proud of everybody that tugged.”
With the sorority championship being the first matchup, Delta Zeta was able to be a part of that large crowd for the rest of the matchups.
“It was also really fun to watch everyone else tug,” Gregory said.
The third-place matchup saw Alpha Gamma Delta faceoff against Sigma Kappa.
Sigma Kappa, who won the third-place matchup, was in the third-place game after a win against Tri-Delta and a loss to Alpha Sigma Alpha.
Alpha Gamma Delta defeated Alpha Phi in the first round but lost in the semifinals.
The fraternity championship was between Sigma Pi and Sigma Nu.
Sigma Pi beat Sigma Chi and Delta Chi to get to the finals, and Sigma Nu defeated Phi Kappa Theta after receiving a bye.
The match was very close with Sigma Nu getting within serval feet of elimination.
“I even said it to myself. I’m like, ‘We’re done right here,’” Sigma Nu member Braylon Nugent, a junior physical education major said. “And then all of the sudden, we just felt a lot of momentum on our side.”
Sigma Nu was able to pull Sigma Pi into the water and claim the win.
“I’m very relieved and also just very tired. It was just a tough battle the entire way,” Nugent said. “It just felt really great to be able to get that [last] pull.”
The last pull of the matchup put Sigma Pi in second place.
“I think we fought pretty hard. We were just right there at the end, and we just lost it, I felt overall that it was pretty close,” Sigma Pi member Victor Buehler, a freshman nursing major said.
The third-place matchup was between Delta Chi and Phi Kappa Theta.
Delta Chi beat Lambda Chi Alpha to advance to the semifinals, losing to Sigma Pi, and Phi Kappa Theta defeated Sigma Phi Epsilon and lost to Sigma Nu in the semifinals.
Delta Chi won the third-place matchup.
After all the matchups, teams went into the Campus Pond pavilion, and each of the top three teams received medals based on their finishing position with the winning teams got trophies.
For the sororities Alpha Sigma Alpha was first, Delta Zeta was second and Sigma Kappa finished third.
For the fraternities Sigma Nu finished first, Sigma Pi finished second and Delta Chi got third.
Jason Coulombe can be reached at 581-2812 or at jmcoulombe@eiu.edu.
