By Adekale Ande, Campus Carrier Asst. Sports Editor

Bailey Albertson | CAMPUS CARRIER

The Mountain Day Olympics: the one day a year that residence hall pride is on the line. For 102 years, students have celebrated Martha Berry’s birthday in early October.

 The past four years, Mountain Campus has won the Mountain Day Olympics for the male division by having the most points in each individual event.  

This year Berry crowned a new winner in the male division. Following a tug-of-war victory, the Dana men took the crown from Mountain Campus and stopped their five-year streak of Olympic championships. The Morgan-Deerfield women also took home the title of Mountain Day Olympics champion as they finished first in the women’s division.

“We went in with one main goal: beat Mountain and end the streak. We got it done in the end,” junior Austin Drake said. “Couldn’t have been more proud of Dana/ Thomas Berry.”

The Dana  men are the new champions of the Moutain Day Olympics. This is a new starting point for other halls to step up their game for next year’s Olympics now that Moutain Campus has been dethroned.

Increasing competition among halls means more authentic competitiveness and a more electric atmosphere at this event. 

“It shows that gods can bleed,” sophomore Tristan Donnally said. “I’m excited to get my crack at Mountain Campus next year. My mom always told me growing up you must always kill the enemy [Mountain Campus] once they show first blood, just like Rambo. Dana showed the way and now it’s Ford’s turn next year.”

The excitement of the Mountain Day Olympic games results and the fall of Mountain Campus with a now-level playing field only fuels the competitive fire for others to compete in next year’s Olympic games.

While, competing is a big part of the Olympics, residence hall themes also play a crucial role in the atmosphere and feel of the games. Each residence has a theme and they create floats and t-shirts to don in the march leading up to the Olympics. These themes help pump up students and separate each hall from each other. 

This year’s themes for each residence hall were: Ford: Sharknado, Morton-Lemley: Ghostbusters, Morgan-Deerfield: Mo-apocalypse, Alternative: The Sandlot, Mountain: Fishermen, Dana/Thomas Berry: Planet Fitness, Commuters: Disney, and Faculty and Staff: Briggs for President. 

“This is my third year living at Ford, and the thing I think is the coolest about Ford is how unified everyone is now,” junior Hannah Gurniewicz said. 

“I thought the Sharknado theme was really different and unique, and it was fun because there were many different ways to dress up that you wouldn’t think of, like sharks and tourists.”

This is the first big event  of each year that Berry hosts where parents, alumni and students all come together to celebrate. The Olympics bring students together  in various events. 

The Olympic events include egg toss, pyramid race, tug-of-war, water relay, balloon relay and hula-hoop relay. 

“I’m super competitive, so the Olympics were a great time and really helped me get closer to the people on my hall because we had a bonding experience,” freshman Conlan DeLorenzo said. 

“Going into it I thought it was cool, but I wasn’t really sure how big of deal it was going to be. Seeing the upperclassmen get into it and going through the events with them and having that team spirit; I really enjoyed it and I thought it built a sense of community on our hall.”

Gurniewicz agreed.

“We got really excited to march and we started chanting as one big Ford army,” she said.