Top 10 Ball State homecoming candidates announced at fashion show

Miley Cyrus, Gatsby, Progressive’s Flo and Prince William look-alikes all strutted their stuff in the Homecoming Royalty Fashion Show on Monday night.

A total of 48 Ball State organizations were represented, including greek organizations and residence halls.

“I’m glad to see so many organizations, not just greek, involved in Homecoming,” Junior Public Relations major Annika Miller said.

Miller attended to support Sigma Chi’s Tara Cahill and Chi Omega’s Megan Kiefer.

Some candidates stuck to “Wizard of Oz” inspired costumes to match the “There’s No Place Like Homecoming” theme, such as Alpha Gamma Delta candidate Robyn Miley, who dressed as Dorothy.

Seniors Jessica Feltz and Ryan Noll from Catholic Student Union put a spin on a classic.

“We wanted to be out of the box, but to go with the theme,” Feltz said.

Feltz and Noll dressed up as a cow and the Kansas tornado that transports Dorothy to the land of Oz. They won best dressed by the Homecoming Steering Committee.

Noll, a visual communications major, made his tornado costume after collaborating with multiple people on ideas for building the structure.

“The tornado took me four hours to build,” he said.

Noll used a hula hoop for the top of the tornado, and twisted wire into a cage to surround his body. Noll then covered the wire in colored tulle and toys.

Feltz had not seen the tornado costume until 10 minutes before the show.

“I was nervous, but I trusted Ryan’s genius,” Feltz said.

Both Feltz and Noll made top 10 for Homecoming student king and queen and will move on to the interview process.

Some candidates deviated from the theme, including the Knotts/Edwards Hall candidates, Ellyn Fritz and James Long, who impersonated the man and woman in the “American Gothic” painting, pitchfork included.

Student Athlete Advisory Committee’s Al Jennings and Brooklyn Schumacher dressed as Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren. They were voted crowd favorite after Schumacher came out swinging at ex-husband Woods and the crowd erupted in laughter.

Freshman Jackee Stevens, a criminal justice major, said the Robin Thicke and Cyrus pair, impersonated by Phi Gamma Delta’s Sean Ratkus and Caitlyn Sprong, were her favorite.

“It’s so recent and everyone could relate,” Stevens said. “They were hilarious in general.”

“[The event went] a lot smoother than I thought it would,” said Nathan Hesher, Homecoming Steering Committee royalty chairman. “All the candidates were cooperative and excited.”

New this year, there was a short break halfway through the candidates modeling their costumes. The hosts took the time to test the Homecoming Steering Committee on their Toto impressions and their best Wicked Witch laugh.

Hesher said there were 570 people who attended the event.