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Del Norte High freshmen compete for title of ‘Fittest on Campus’

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Del Norte High freshmen Tristan Yoo and Madeleine Tran nabbed the title of “Fittest on Campus” when in front of hundreds of their peers they were the first male and female finalists to complete a series of exercises within five minutes.

The third annual Crossfit Nighthawks competition was held in Del Norte’s gym on Friday. Fourteen freshmen — seven boys and seven girls — qualified to compete after the entire freshman class of around 500 students were tested in various challenges during previous weeks.

All received points based on six events — an 800-meter run, two minutes of pushups, a 25-yard swim, one minute of double unders (where a jump rope passes under the feet twice per jump), three minutes of burpees (another calisthenic exercise that has them repeatedly standing then getting on the ground) and five minutes of amrap thrusters and medball sit-ups (as many reps as possible), said Dale Hanover, a Del Norte exercise and nutritional science instructor who organized the competition.

During the finals, the 14 students had to complete 10 push presses (the boys lifted 55 pounds and girls lifted 35 pounds in the front squat to overhead press), an 80-meter run, 15 box jump overs, 80-meter run, 20 sit-ups, 80-meter run, 25 double unders and a final 80-meter run to the finish line. Each student had an assigned judge from Crossfit Barracks in 4S Ranch to make sure the exercises were fully completed before they moved on to the next challenge.

The male finalists were Noah Berkebile, Max Jiang, Richard Nguyen, John Terrell, Alex Vourlitis, Carter Williams and Tristan Yoo. The female finalists were Isabella Burkhardt, Rebecca Huynh, Malia Kay, Josephine Shia, Gabby Smith, Madeleine Tran and Kelsey White.

The top three male competitors were Yoo (first), Terrell (second) and Jiang (third). The top three female competitors were Tran (first), White (second) and Huynh (third).

“I’m not surprised I made it into the finals, but that I won, yeah,” said Yoo, a 14-year-old on Del Norte’s swim team. Coming into the finals he was in second place.

Yoo attributed his success to his fitness level due to swimming. He said the box jumps were his favorite, since “I like jumping on things” and the push press his least favorite due to his size. Yoo said he practiced the double unders, which became the determining factor for both the male and female winners.

Tran, 15, said she used to be a competitive ice skater, which helped her get ahead during the double unders. “I’m used to jumping rope a lot due to ice skating,” she said, adding it also was her favorite challenge.

As for her least favorite, she said four rounds of 80-meter runs since “I don’t like running.”

Tran said she was surprised to win the competition since in the qualifying round she was in 10th place. However, three girls ahead of her dropped out so she ended up becoming a finalist after all.

Hanover said three years ago Del Norte added a Crossfit option to its physical education program because it provides a unique way to get exercise beyond just having students run around a track.

“It’s more intense, interval training,” he said. “It works on their strength, making them faster rather than focused on steady, long (intervals).”

Crossfit, which is featured at gyms nationwide, offers schools an option to be an affiliate, Hanover said. “Kids are being exposed to a fairly expensive workout that at a gym can cost up to $200 a month,” he said.

In the 2012-13 school year, there were more than 100 students among all grades who opted for the program, which concluded with the “Fittest on Campus” contest. Last year participation doubled and this year school officials decided to incorporate Crossfit into the yearlong physical education program for all 500 freshmen. Older students had the option of taking it as well, some coming to school before classes to take Crossfit as their zero period elective.

With 3,000 qualifying scores to log for freshmen alone, Hanover said he had to limit the contest to freshmen this year, though next year he would like to open it again to sophomores through seniors.

While a majority of this year’s 14 finalists compete in one or two sports at Del Norte, Hanover said not all are student athletes.

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