An unlikely coronation: Connelly, Hollingsworth, Kelly crowned homecoming royalty

Four women and three men in red and black attire pose for a photograph at midfield in Memorial Stadium.

Kristen Labadie | University Communication and Marketing

Homecoming royalty winners Caden Connelly (third from left), Claire Kelly (fourth from left) and Ava Hollingsworth (second from right) pose for a photograph with Chancellor Rodney D. Bennett (third from right); Shelly Zaborowski, executive director of the Nebraska Alumni Association (left); and 2024 homecoming royalty winners Jamie Smith (second from left) and Emmerson Putnam (right) during halftime of the Nebraska-Michigan State football game on Oct. 4.

A rare tie has resulted in three seniors — Caden Connelly of Lincoln, Ava Hollingsworth of Omaha and Claire Kelly of Grand Island — being crowned homecoming royalty at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

The three were elected in an online vote of the student body Oct. 1 and 2 and crowned on the field at Memorial Stadium during halftime of the Oct. 4 Nebraska-Michigan State football game. With 2,387 ballots cast — nearly 10% of the student body — Hollingsworth and Kelly tied.

Connelly is a fisheries and wildlife major in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. He is part of the university’s Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program, launching the business CMC Media, and has worked on the Platte Basin Timelapse project. He is the son of Lonnie Connelly and Lorinda Rice.

Hollingsworth is an accounting, finance and management major in the College of Business. She is also a student in the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management. A member of Kappa Alpha Theta and president of the Panhellenic Executive Council, she is the daughter of Robert and Addie Hollingsworth.

Kelly is an elementary education major in the College of Education and Human Sciences. She has also served as a New Student Enrollment orientation leader, a Nebraska Human Resources Institute mentor and a strengths coach in the Clifton Strengths Institute. President of Chi Omega, she is the daughter of Brian and Stacy Kelly.