In a tight race that boasted the largest Penn State voter turnout to date, Rubina Javeri (junior-finance and international business) and Kris Ankarlo (senior-journalism) edged out the competition to become the new Undergraduate Student Government president and vice president.

The winning ticket received 2,492 of the total 7,226 votes, just passing Erik Ives (junior-political science) and Matt Brezina's (junior-electrical engineering) 2,202 votes.

As the Election Commission took the stage around 12:20 a.m. to announce the results, the HUB-Robeson Alumni Hall crowd of nearly 500 people stopped their prior eating, dancing and conversation and became silent in anticipation.

When Javeri and Ankarlo's names were announced, they were already poised at front of the stage. Ankarlo thrust his head back, raised up his arms, and screamed in celebration as Javeri was tackled by close to 100 campaign workers who supported them.

"This is the most amazing experience of my life!" Javeri shouted over the crowd's cheers.

"I can't even explain how this feels right now," Ankarlo added as he picked up his running mate and swung her around.

The ticket expressed excitement about working on their platform goals, which include an online waiting list for filled classes, expanded eatery hours, online services at University Health Services, and the formation of a union of off-campus students.

Upon hearing the news, runners-up Ives and Brezina were disappointed in their narrow loss, but remained optimistic about the future of USG.

"I'm very pleased that there was such a large turnout and it's clear that there were two tickets that had the experience and desire to lead USG next year," Ives said.

In third place with 657 votes, Mike Gallo (junior-political science) and Chris Miller (sophomore-mechanical engineering and economics) also had high spirits, despite the outcome.

"All the tickets fought hard," Gallo said. "The votes didn't go our way, but I'll be back in senate."

Gallo was one of the few incumbents to be reelected to senate.

He added that his membership in senate's Conservative Coalition only hurt his campaign because it gave his opponents something to use against him. Rather, he said his membership in the coalition did not play as large a part in his loss as his opponents' stronger campaigns.

Dave Somerman (sophomore-premedicine) and Brandon Goldwater (sophomore-biology) trailed closely behind with 592 votes.

The pair would not comment on the results.

However, Jonathan Koltash (junior-finance and economics) and Jeremy Montgomery (junior-crime, law and justice and business), who came in fifth, with 571 votes, were more upset about this year's election code than with their loss.

"I think the election code was very, very poor," he said. "That's a challenge for next year's senate to fix."

Ed Brown (junior-political science) and Christian Boris (junior-meteorology) finished last, securing 445 votes.

Brown said he felt the elections excluded candidates not previously involved in student government.

"USG doesn't cater to outsiders," he said. "I think it has to work a lot harder in the coming year."

Current USG President Justin Zartman said he was excited for Javeri and Ankarlo to begin working on their platform goals.

He said being president is a job that requires a lot of dedication and effort.

"I hope they're ready to work for students," he said, "It's a job that takes 100 percent."

Collegian Staff Writers Laura Baldwin, Chris Buell, Corianne Iacovelli, Matt Hymowitz, Nicholas Kershbaumer and Laura Michalski contributed to this report.