The University of Massachusetts crowned Akshay Kapoor and Brooke Myones  its first ever homecoming king and queen this past weekend at the Homecoming Football game against Villanova.

Kapoor, a junior public health major of the pre-med track, won King with 498 votes. He is involved with the SGA and a member of the Theta Chi fraternity.

“I was really shocked,” said Kapoor. “I legit thought I wasn’t going to win it, and then they called my name.”

He continued, “this is the biggest honor I’ve had at UMass.”

Myones, a senior accounting and legal studies double major, won with 354 votes, only three more than the runner-up received. Myones has served as the treasurer of the SGA and and founded the UMass Dance Club.

In her online platform, Myones said “The relationships I have formed here at UMass will stay with me forever, and I cannot be prouder to say that I come from this school.”

The announcement was made at the football game during the first touchdown timeout in the first quarter. The winners were given flowers and a crown.

The winners of Homecoming King and Queen were voted on by students using an online poll set up by the SGA. All the votes were in and counted by Thursday.

“I knew Thursday night,” said Ben Johnson, Secretary of Finance in the SGA and one of the event organizers. “We didn’t tell anyone until the game though.”

Johnson said that about 2,000 people voted in the election. Charles Flowers III, president of UPC, also helped organize the event, which will be held again next year.

“We plan on having it again next year,” said Johnson. “One of the parts of the survey online was a question on if people though having a homecoming king and queen was important. Seventy-five percent or 1,153 people thought this was important.”

-Collegian News Staff