Mercer University blasted back to the early 2000s Friday, Nov. 14, 2025 as hundreds of students packed into Tony Auditorium for the annual Lip Sync Battle, one of Mercer’s most beloved Homecoming traditions. With this year’s theme, battlers went all out, sporting low-rise jeans, retro iPods and throwback classics that the crowd chanted, cheered and sang along to.
Among the 20 individual organizations that participated, Student Government Association, MU Miracle and MerServe were represented. Greek organizations were also major players in the eight separate acts at Friday’s event.
“Everyone truly did so amazing,” Kadie Tate ‘28, a member of the Alpha Gamma team, said, “I loved getting to watch the creativity of the other groups.”
Performances featured iconic Y2K hits including “Fergalicious,” “Pump it,” “Crazy Right Now,” “Bye Bye Bye” and “Sk8ter Boi.” Some teams also committed to the theme by referencing iconic films from the aughts, including “Mean Girls” and “Pitch Perfect.”
Alpha Tau Omega and Phi Mu were the champions of the large bracket. They stunned the crowd and judges with their creative performance centered around Saturday’s homecoming football game. Half of the group sported the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s navy blue while the other half repped Mercer’s orange swag, turning their lip sync into a battle of school spirit and athletic rivalry. In sticking with the theme, they jammed to hit Y2K songs, including “Bringing Sexy Back,” and even featured Britney Spears as the skit’s football game halftime show.
The winning routine was choreographed by Alex Jones ‘26, Alyssa Green ‘27 and Victoria McRee ‘27, who are all members of the Mercer dance team.
“We had four practices, which were two hours each,” Katelyn Mills ‘29, a Phi Mu performer, said, “My favorite part of the process was seeing all of the ATO pledges learning the dances because they are not the best, but they worked really hard.”
ATO pledge Michael Moss ‘29 also performed in the winning routine and said that he was “very excited about winning.”
“Performing was great. We were all kinds of nervous before, but then we locked in, all of our nerves went away, and we had a lot of fun,” Moss said.
Along with ATO and Phi Mu, MU Miracle was the other champion of the evening after taking first place in the medium bracket. Their routine blended many Y2K mashups of various genres, including rock, hip-hop, country and pop. All of their team members rocked low-rise jeans and black tops that screamed Y2K.
“MU Miracle ate down,” Svea Sledger ‘29 said. “They were all on beat and coordinated, and it was so good!”
The judging panel included Margaret Rooyakkers ‘19, Vckki Luther and Erin Smith. They evaluated teams on creativity, team synchronization and commitment to the Y2K theme according to the rubric.
Rooyakkers, a double Bear, is the University’s assistant director of service and civic engagement and helps lead Mercer Votes. Luther is a professor at Mercer’s Tift College of Education and a former grade school teacher. Smith holds a Master of Education from Mercer and last year worked in Campus Life’s office as a graduate assistant.
The battle was hosted by none other than Dalton Loyd ‘25 and Alisha Mitchell ‘26, Mercer’s 2024 homecoming royalty. The duo brought energy, enthusiasm and witty jokes throughout the night while emceeing the competition.
“The Lip Sync battle is always my favorite part of homecoming week,” Loyd said. “I’ts a chance for members of the Mercer community to come together.”
Indeed, in the audience of Toney Auditorium, there were current students performing, but there was also a large contingent of alumni and supporters for the school.
Students participating in the battles have been diligently preparing their routines over the last two weeks. Lip sync teams were competitive and committed time and effort into making their costumes and props and perfecting their synchronization in rehearsals.
“We have been working our tails off,” said Kadie Tate ‘28, a member of the Phi Delt, Sig Sig Rho, Alpha Gam and Zeta Phi Beta lip sync team. “We have had practice every night this week, and last night we were up until 2 a.m. finishing our shirts.”
On Tuesday evening this week, teams met up at the Campus Life office in the Connell Student Center to create the props in advance of their performances Friday. Oversized cardboard iPods, lockers and digital cameras were just some of the creations incorporated into their routines.
Between performances, QuadWorks kept the auditorium energy high by organizing mini-games for audience members to participate in. Samia Rizzo ‘29 was one of the lucky audience members chosen to play. She ended up winning her game by being the fastest to complete the lyrics in Y2K karaoke.
“I had a bunch of fun and am happy that I actually got to sing and participate,” Rizzo said. “I ended up winning a cute shirt, which is exciting.”
Throughout the night, the audience’s buzz of excitement never dipped.
“It was so fun to watch!” Rizzo said. “The energy is electrifying, everyone clapped and sang along the whole time. It was such a vibe.”
Tate was happy that she decided to join her lip sync team this year, and was proud of her team.
“Participating in the battle was nerve-wracking because you get onstage and, boom, everyone in the audience is there watching you,” Tate said.
Clara Kurczak '29 is majoring in journalism at Mercer University. She loves capturing moments and bringing stories to life with her camera and pen. When she is not working on articles, Clara enjoys listening to music, spending time with the people she cares about and reading anything she can get her hands on.
