General admission at Schwab Auditorium was standing room only last night as the Airbands Competition took the stage for a mid-homecoming week extravaganza.

The night featured 28 lip-synched and choreographed performances that were put on by a combination of fraternity and sorority chapters, student clubs as well as dance companies.

The event kicked off to a crowd of about 900 at 7 p.m. and ended two hours later with the announcement of the winners of the Airbands competition.

Top Airband honors were awarded to campus dance company Orchesis and fraternity Theta Delta Chi, for an elaborate interpretation of The Wizard of Oz set to "Ease on Down The Road."

"It was exhilarating," Sarah Burnett (senior-nursing), who performed as Dorothy, said. "I was really nervous."

Second place was a tie between Phi Sigma Rho/Triangle's Batman-inspired rescue of a damsel in distress and Lion Ambassadors' acrobatic dance clinic.

"It was a good time," Lion Ambassador Steve Renaldo (junior-premedicine) said. "It was so much fun doing it."

Other highlights of the evening included an educational take on "My Sharona" by Phi Delta Theta and Phi Mu dressed as Sesame Street characters, and a countrified medley by the Penn State Equestrian Team, who cowboy'd up with Phi Kappa Psi.

The Sesame Street performance was disqualified from the competition, however. Melanie Ranalli, a homecoming communication overall, refused to comment on the reason for the disqualification, adding that the performance was "not something we associate with homecoming."

The lowlights of the night were ill-advised chorus lines and soul trains, and a Ricky Martin imitation by a gyrating dancer clad in a gold satin shirt.

The competition was judged by a panel of three, consisting of Mike Funk, THON overall; Dina Liberatore, a former homecoming advisor; and Dr. Andrew Peck, a well-known psychology professor.

"It was fun, but we shoulda won. We got robbed," Matt Savory (sophomore-accounting) said. Savory's fraternity, Tau Epsilon Phi, "Monster Mash"-ed with Tapestry Dance Company.

The night began with an appearance by the Nittany Lion and some jokes by Kyle Narsavage and Paul Kazanjian, masters of ceremonies, that poked fun at Jay Bundy and the Penn State quarterback situation.

Deanna Bucciarelli, homecoming special events overall, coordinated the evening.

"This is our first time in Schwab and we're really excited to have it here," she said. "We couldn't have asked for better results."

The music and performances were selected by the groups involved to correspond with their respective themes for homecoming week, which will also be reflected in their floats in Friday's parade, Bucciarelli said.