The Campus Activities Center Theater was full on Saturday night as the contestants in this year’s Hippodrome competition gave their final performances. 

The skits brought an end to the annual event, which celebrated its 85th year.

The Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity won the night in a retelling of the story of Robin Hood, “Robin and the Sheriff.” The performance mixed pop culture references with the classic story, slapstick, the comedic styling of 90’s movie “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” and a surprising kiss between Robin Hood and Maid Marian. 

“This was only our second time to win as a chapter,” Tate Blanton, the actor who played the part of Robin Hood, said. 

“There were a lot of good skits,” he said. “I was a little nervous when we came in.” 

The best actress award went to Melissa Ford of Alpha Phi for her role as Katrina in “Mall Rats.” Devin Bacha of Sigma Phi Epsilon was awarded the best actor award for his role as Richard Simmons look-alike Billy Gumdrops in “Rockercise Me.” 

Alpha Phi and Beta Theta Pi won the award for best use of the mystery item in “Mall Rats.” Each group was required to use a mystery item in their skit for a minimum of two minutes. This year the mystery item was a toilet seat that the “Mall Rats” performers used as a stolen item from a clothing store.

Throughout the night, there were five skits, along with four special attraction performances that took place between them, including singing, dancing and some impressive piano playing.

The winner of the special attractions for this year was Roy Moye with his stylish dance moves and talented singing of “You Rock My World” by Michael Jackson —complete with a sequin glove on his right hand.

Comedian David Newton emceed the night, bringing his Hollywood style and South African accent to the Great Plains. Newton was excited to be in Wichita, or “the fashion capital of the world,” as he called it, where people wear “crocs, shocks and Final Four shirts.” 

Newton had no idea what to expect when he was booked. “I knew that I was emceeing, but I didn’t know the proud 85-year history,” he said. He believed that the acts all had a nice mixture of originality along with things we were familiar with, such as “Robin Hood,” “Back to the Future” and “Jersey Shore.”

After months of planning by all parties involved, the event came to a close as performers left to celebrate their accomplishments.

“It was a lot of hard work, but it was a lot of fun,” Blanton said.