The Capstone may not have beaten Auburn this year, but the student body managed to take a huge bite out of hunger.

At the end of the Beat Auburn Beat Hunger Food Drive, Auburn had collected 172,492 pounds of food, and Alabama had collected 150,414 pounds, breaking its previous record of 66,000 pounds, and exceeding its goal of 100,000 pounds.

Sara Senicz, the coordinator for the food drive, said she was pleasantly surprised and overwhelmed with how much food was collected and how many students participated.

"I think it went incredible this year," Senicz said. "The food bank was so happy for us."

Craig Young, director of the West Alabama Food Bank, said he is thrilled with the University's final total, and that students have set the bar high for all the following food drives.

"We did not beat Auburn and that surprised me," Young said. "I was sure we had a winning total, but the real winners are the hungry and food insecure households in West Alabama."

Kori Mosakowski, the senior programs coordinator at the UA Community Service Center, also agreed that the drive went well, and said more organizations participated this year than last year.

"We were really pleased to get everyone to come together like they did," Mosakowski said. "Everyone really got behind it and definitely exceeded our expectations."

Mosakowski and Senicz said they are already brainstorming plans for next year's drive. Mosakowski said there will definitely be a higher goal set next year, and Senicz said officials at the Capstone are considering a Web site that would allow students to donate online.

While more organizations participated this year, each individual group donated more food than in recent years as well - the top three organizations for this year all raised more than the first-place organization raised last year.

Freshman Forum won first place in student organizations with 27,858 pounds collected, while SGA and Alpha Lambda Delta Honorary took second and third place respectively. Delta Kappa Epsilon took first place in fraternities, and Delta Delta Delta collected the most of out of all the sororities. Wal-Mart was the community winner, and Rose Towers was the residence hall winner.

Alexandra Weaver, a resident adviser at Rose Towers, said that she tried to encourage her residents to donate, and went door-to-door collecting donations.

"Our community is so close, we just all came together and donated because we knew how important it was not just to beat Auburn, but to help so many area families enjoy their Thanksgivings," Weaver said.