By Allison Mudge

The rain let up a bit by the time the Homecoming court was announced Saturday during halftime of the football game against William ‘ Mary.

Senior Keith Ford and junior Ashley Adams were crowned this year’s king and queen amidst a sea of umbrellas.

“It seemed like I received a lot of support from people, not just athletes, but people within the NU community that really stepped up and voted for me,” said Ford, a marketing major and offensive lineman for the Huskies.

Adams, the president of the Student Government Association (SGA), said the group sponsored her in the run for queen. The students she works for seem to have reciprocated the support she gives them when it came to voting for her.

“My job is to advocate for the students, so maybe that had something to do with it,” said Adams, a double major in international affairs and English.

Ford raced back to the locker room after being crowned king. He was focused on heading back into battle.

“Your team’s out there in war,” he said.

Ford also participated in Northeastern’s Unity Gospel Ensemble before the start of the football season. He was asked by the leader of the Homecoming committee to participate in this year’s events, he said.

Members of the court completed essays, applications and interviews with the Homecoming committee.

Students could vote for their king and queen on the myNEU website portal last week. In total 5,337 students voted, said Laura Caputo, a middler mechanical engineering major and royalty chair of the homecoming committee. Ford received 2,563 votes for king and Adams 2,774 votes for queen.

As homecoming queen, “I will continue to represent Husky pride at all times,” said Adams, who also participates in Boston intercollegiate government and model United Nations.

Ford, who transferred to Northeastern last year, said he truly feels at home at the university.

“A lot of people really accepted me,” he said. “During that transfer period a lot of people showed me a tremendous amount of respect.”

He was grateful for that acceptance and to everyone who voted for him, he said, and he heard from his supporters both before and after his crowning.

“A lot of people came up to me and told me they were voting for me,” he said.

In spite of the rain, Homecoming 2005 was a bigger success than past years, Caputo said.

The committee that brought the week’s events together consisted of seven chairs and two student ambassadors working on the “Mayor of Huntington Avenue” competition, Caputo said. The committee also received assistance from two advisors, Erin Dayharsh and Brooke Tempesta.

“Students were welcome to come to the meetings to give input and many student organizations usually sent representatives to the meetings,” Caputo said.

One of the larger turnouts of the week came for the Homecoming football game. Several hundred people, umbrellas in tow, showed up to support the Huskies Saturday afternoon, who lost 44-41 in double overtime.

“We’ve had rain before,” Caputo said. “Last year homecoming was the same day as the Red Sox parade. So this year we have a much better turnout.”