Freshmen (left) and juniors scramble to help a class representative put the uniforms on for the mattress relay during Friday at lunch. Juniors emerged victorious for this round and advanced to the finals, in which they beat the seniors. – Grace LiaoThe stage was set for an epic battle between the junior would-be usurpers and the seniors today after the juniors snatched the lead in spirit points yesterday. It was the first day the seniors lost their commanding lead over the rest of the classes.

The Associated Student Body has declined to release scores from today’s lunch rally, but an upset junior victory over the seniors in the mattress relay suggests that the seniors will have to work extra hard after school to regain their first-place spot. The rally will be cheer-focused, according to ASB Social Commissioner Jared Swezey-Gleason.

According to ASB Spirit Commissioner George Brown, points from today’s lunchtime and afterschool rally will not be released until tomorrow after the homecoming dance. He added that classes earn spirit points for every person who attends the dance.

The rally began with a performance from DJ Grady Turner, known by his nickname GT, which was intended to hype Paly’s homecoming dance that he will DJ this Saturday. He was joined by seniors Rayonna Adams and Kevin Ward, who led a large portion of students in an informal dance.

“[My friends] pushed me, but it was great,” Adams said.

Today’s activity was the mattress race, which required one member of each grade to put clothes on over what they were wearing and then be carried around 30 feet. They would then take the clothes off and give them to a waiting teammate, who put them on and was carried back to the start. The winner earned 70 points, second place scored 60 points and the two remaining grades were allocated 45 points.

The juniors easily defeated the freshmen in the first round, ensuring the them a place in the final round.

The seniors then earned a technical victory over the sophomores, who, despite initially erupting in cheers at what seemed to be a victory for their class, were disqualified because of a rules violation.

The final was a showdown between the leading junior class and the second place seniors, who have not lost the mattress relay in two years. After getting off to an early start, the juniors maintained their lead and came in first in the race.

“The seniors did really well — we won best dressed — but we only got second in the activity,” Senior Class Vice President John Brunett said. “But the seniors will win [Spirit Week].”

The rally concluded with the staff spirit dance and a cheer-off, before heavy drops of rain began to fall among the crowd.

“The teacher’s dance was wonderful and I’m excited for floats and spirit dances,” junior Brian Benton said.

The after school rally will take place on the football field. However, due to the 3:25 release time, the activity has been shortened to a brief performance from the cheer team, floats and spirit dances. The usual field activities that would have taken place were held yesterday at lunch.

The winning class for the cheer off, the mattress relay, floats, spirit dances and other unreleased events will be announced Saturday at the homecoming dance.