Ben Prescott, reporter 

Multiple Berry Vikings sports teams competed on Mountain Day Weekend. Here are the results and updated conference standings at the time of publication. 

Men’s Cross Country 

The Berry men’s cross country team split into two groups to compete in races in Fairburn, Ga. and Louisville, Ky. 

At the Live in Lou Cross Country Classic in Louisville, the Vikings finished 13th overall with senior Cameron Bensley being the team’s top performer. He finished in 20th place with a time of 24:58.5. 

At the Alexander/Asics Invitational in Fairburn, the Vikings came in at 14th place with junior Abhi Aurobindo finishing in 65th place at 27:19.44. 

The men’s team will compete in the Berry Invitational on Saturday, Oct.16 in Valhalla. 

Women’s Cross Country 

The women’s team also divided into two groups to attend the same races as the men’s team. 

In the Women’s 6k Silver Race in Louisville, the Vikings finished in 25th place. Hastings Gray came in at 89th place with a time of 24:31.1. 

The Vikings also finished in 22nd place in Fairburn, with Anna Rose, with a time of 21:00.91, coming in at 98th place. 

The women’s team will also compete next in the Oct. 16 Berry Invitational. 

Volleyball 

The volleyball team, ranked second in the region behind Emory University, had two SAA matchups during Mountain Day Weekend, sweeping both Hendrix College and Rhodes College. 

Sophomore Jazzy Innis led the Vikings to their first win of the weekend, over Hendrix, with 12 kills. In volleyball, a kill is when a player executes a hit that is unreturnable by the opposing team. Innis also turned in another stellar outing against Rhodes with eight kills. This performance resulted in her receiving the honor of SAA Player of the Week. 

Berry’s next home game will be against Emory University on Tuesday Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. in the Cage Center. 

Women’s Soccer 

The women’s soccer team lost its first conference matchup at Centre College on Oct. 2. The women’s team’s conference record falls to 1-1, leaving them with a 6-4 game record. 

Berry led 1-0 at the half with an assisted goal from sophomore Maeve McDougal to senior Vanessa Belanger around 22 minutes into the game. Centre evened the score with a goal of their own four minutes into the second half and scored the game winner with 13 minutes left to play. 

The Vikings will be back on Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. in Memphis, Tenn. against the Rhodes College Lynx. 

Men’s Soccer 

The men’s soccer team tied 1-1 at Centre College on Oct. 2, with both teams scoring in the second half and two scoreless sudden-death overtime periods. 

Within the first five minutes of the second half, senior Zachary Ernst connected with freshman Dylan Bloch for the Vikings’s only score of the game. Centre responded with a goal of their own 64:24 into the game. 

The Vikings will take on Rhodes College at home on Oct. 8 at 4:30 p.m. 

Football 

The Vikings suffered a rare home loss to Trinity University in their conference opener Saturday night. With an ending score of 27-6, Berry’s overall record falls to 2-2 for the season. 

Trinity scored on their opening drive and again in the second quarter. Berry responded with a 32-yard field goal by junior Matthew Syverson in the closing seconds of the first half, going into halftime with a score 14-3. 

Syverson added another 36-yard field goal midway through the third quarter. Trinity responded with a rushing touchdown late in the third quarter and another one in the fourth. 

The Vikings have another conference matchup at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss. this Saturday at 2 p.m.