Seniors Luke Tiberi and Nick Robie light the torch in our first pep rally of the year. (Inji Kang’19/Media)

On Friday, September 22, the band played a lively tune as eager students piled into “The Mack” for the fall pep rally.

The lights cut to darkness to begin the show as the Viking took down the Whitehall-Yearling Ram. The deafening screams of overjoyed lower school students filled the gym as Viking seniors Ruby Moss and Luke Tiberi introduced the inaugural Viking Olympics.

Contestants from all divisions formed three teams representing, with faculty members as their captains.

The games commenced with the noise competition, which was taken handily by the lower schoolers, screaming as loudly as they possibly could.

Next, the teams competed in the hula hoop challenge, linking hands in a circle while each person had to go through the hoop to pass it along. The Upper School team passed their hoop around swiftly, easily grabbing the win.

Everyone’s attention was then redirected to a video featuring action at the pool projected onto the opposing wall. Gasps filled the gym as Jacob Eismann’19 broke away after his flip turn, handing the middle school team its first win.

Spirit squad members dressed as bananas introduced the banana relay. Competitors raced across the gym where their teammates stood holding bananas. The task was to eat the banana as quickly as possible, handing the peel to the next runner who tossed it away in a trash can before reaching the other side. The upper school team nabbed the point in a narrow victory over the middle school.

The Olympics culminated in a three-part food competition. First, one team member had to eat a donut tied to a piece of string hanging in front ofthem. This was followed by a teammate coaxing an oreo from their forehead into their mouth with no hands. Once the first two tasks were completed, the faculty team captains dove their faces into tins of whipped cream in search of a piece of gum.

Mr. Losambe led the upper school team to its third victory, beating Mr. Yakscoe in the chase to blow a bubble with the gum.

The Upper School was crowned champion of the Viking Olympics as the teams gathered on the medal stand for the closing ceremony.

The senior Vikings led a series of cheers throughout the Olympic games, drumming up excitement for the evening’s Charlie David dinner and football game against Whitehall-Yearling, making this year’s first pep rally a major success.