Kenai Central hosted the third annual speed and agility competition of SST, or speed and strength training. SST is the weight training curriculum for Kenai Central, Nikiski and Soldotna.
The athletes compete in two events and the events are broken into four categories — freshmen-sophomore girls, freshmen-sophomore boys, junior-senior girls and junior-senior boys. The events were the vertical jump, standing long jump, I-test or shuttle run, the 40-yard dash and a workout competition nicknamed Fight Gone Bad.
“Many people have asked why we call it Fight Gone Bad, simply, if you are in a fight or struggle, in a war, in the streets, on a field or on the court, these special athletes that have the heart to compete in something this difficult are the ones you want standing by your side!” Kenai Central teacher Jeff Baker wrote in an email.
Kenai Central had 10 team champions, while Nikiski had seven and SoHi had four.
The standing long jump champions were Melia Harding of Kenai, Rykker Riddall of Nikiski, Julianne Wilson of Kenai and Phillip Rhodes of Kenai.
The vertical jump champs were Carlee Rizzo of Nikiski, Trenton Robinson of SoHi, Arianne Parrish of Nikiski and Garret Fitt of Kenai.
The I-test champs were Hayley Maw of Kenai, Ben Pollard of Kenai, Kenai’s Alexis Baker and SoHi’s Kyle Hastings, and Kenai’s Kaden Pohl.
The 40-yard dash champs were Hayley Maw of Kenai, Rykker Riddall of Nikiski, Arianne Parrish of Nikiski and Tommy Flores of Soldotna.
Fight Gone Bad went to Melanie Sexton of Nikiski, Brenner Furlong of SoHi, Kelsey Booth of Kenai and Matt Hollinger of Nikiski.
Baker added that Jacob Schmidt of Nikiski didn’t have a valid time due to a judges’ error, but he said Baker made an amazing effort and apologized for the mishap.
