Having just consumed a total of 14 hot wings in a two-minute period, Johanna Krajack (junior-world language education) and Sabrina Burrous of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority held up fingers covered in sauce.

"I have wing sauce under my nails," Burrous (junior-industrial engineering) said as she cleaned her hand with a paper napkin.

The wing-eating contest was a part of the first HUB-A-Palooza, an evening of Homecoming events held last night at the HUB-Robeson Center.

"I'm really happy that a lot of people who usually go out Thursday nights decided to come and support Homecoming," Molly Dilmore (junior-political science), one of the HUB-A-Palooza organizers, said.

Among the evening's events were a Battle of the Bands, photo opportunities with the Nittany Lion and Joe Paterno in cardboard cutout form, and pizza and wing-eating competitions.

Burrous and Krajack both agreed that women are underrepresented in the area of food eating contests. Both managed to down seven wings before the wing supply ran out.

"I was still ready to go with 30 seconds left," Burrous said. "I think they underestimated our eating abilities here at Penn State."

Krajack said the excitement of competition temporarily dulled the wings' spicy power.

"My mouth hurts a little now, but while I was eating I didn't notice," she said.

The winner of the contest was declared to be Mike Riefner (freshman-aerospace engineering) of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, who could not be found for comment.

Meaghan Cappelloni (junior-mathematics) was helping with the HUB-A-Palooza, holding a stack of white cards that participants could use to collect spirit points for participating in the various activities.

"It's a big deal if you win the spirit point competition," she said.

Krajack said Sigma Sigma Sigma was looking to win the spirit point contest for one simple reason.

"It's just something to be proud of," she said.

Cappelloni said HUB-A-Palooza was a good way to give people who aren't necessarily affiliated with any traditional Homecoming organizations a way to get into the spirit of the weekend.

"It gets people more involved in Homecoming," she said.

HUB-A-Paloozers could also grab free T-shirts screen-printed with one of five designs of their choice.

One of the T-shirt design options featured a black-and-white picture of the ever-popular Chuck Norris with the slogan "Chuck Norris says: Penn State is going to roundhouse kick Illinois."

Laura Penny (sophomore-microbiology) and Katie Maxwell (sophomore-public relations) said they selected the shirt bearing Norris's visage because of their personal affection for the man, the myth, the legend. "We love Chuck Norris -- because he roundhouse kicks people," Penny said.

The Battle of the Bands featured six local groups playing on the Heritage Hall stage, including The Minor White and Arctic Summer.

"I like all of them. I really respect all of them," Ted Molnar, of the band Cloverleaf, said. "It was fun, playing anywhere is fun."

A group of male streakers clad in black Speedos also graced HUB-A-Palooza with their presence just before the wing competition, running through the ground floor of the HUB and shouting merrily.

Deanna Bucciarelli, special events overall, said she hopes the HUB-A-Palooza continues in future years.

"Hopefully it'll be something that happens during every Homecoming," she said.