DeKALB | In a rematch of the 2010 Tugs Championship, the Sigma Alpha Mu and Phi Kappa Psi [Sam Psi] team beat the defending champions Phi Sigma Kappa.

Phi Sigma Kappa won the first rope while Sam Psi won the match in the last two ropes.

“We had so many returning teammates that we knew what we had to do to get results,” said Sean Bayless SAM president and IFC vice president.

The team did a lot of running and working out that started before winter break, Bayless said. Most of the members on the rope were returning members that have tugged the last three or four years.

“We couldn’t have done what we did without the people that we had to work with,” Bayless said.

Neither house has ever won a Tugs tournament individually or together, Bayless said.

“I’m still stunned, shocked,” Bayless said. “We worked hard as a team but we really didn’t expect it especially after being knocked down to the bottom of the bracket.”

Bayless said that if he had to choose a most valuable player from the final match it would be anchor Albert Vika of Phi Kappa Psi or the team’s caller Jeremy Peters, also of Phi Kappa Psi.

“Besides the unfortunate weather, it was a great turnout,” said Jeremy Sanchez IFC vice president of community events. “There were a lot of great, exciting matches, and it was nice to have all of the fans there for support.”

This is the second year that Tugs was held at east tailgate side of Huskie Stadium according to IFC President Richie Dalitto. The tournament has moved from different locations each year since Sigma Phi Epsilon was removed from NIU’s campus in Feb. 2008.

“Having it [at E. Huskie Stadium] is the best for attendance,” Dalitto said. “For it to be walking distance from the dorms and have people walk by when going to class helps get the word out.”