The Joe Frank Sanderson Center held its own miniaturized version of the popular “World’s Strongest Man” competition Tuesday in the facility’s weight room. Recreation Sports held its annual bench-press competition, which crowns the university’s strongest men and women from their respective weight classes, in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd of students at the Sanderson Center.
Matt Walker, graduate fitness assistant of Recreation Sports, was in charge of this year’s competition. Walker said the turnout for the event was much larger than last year’s, and the competition went smoothly as planned.
“The competition was good, and we had a much larger group as far as spectators to come and watch the event,” Walker stated. “It was a festival type atmosphere with the student crowd cheering and encouraging the competitors on. It was a lot of fun.”
When all was said and done, six men and four women were crowned champions of their individual weight classes. Joe Ernst, Frank Nichols, David Westall, Brian May, Paul Jefcoat and Michael McGrath were the winners of the men’s competition, while Paula Jean Runge, Connie Goldsmith, Elena White and Robyn Schlagheck came out on top in the women’s competition.
Twenty-five contestants entered the competition and vied for the title of strongest man or woman, with the winners receiving complimentary T-shirts and gift certificates.
This year’s event was sponsored by numerous Starkville area businesses; Walker and the entire Recreation Sports staff attributed much of this year’s success to the sponsors and their gifts.
“We had a total of 10 sponsors for the event this year. This was the first year we were able to find sponsors for the competition, and it was really good to provide the contestants with an extra incentive to give a special effort,” Walker stated.
“Local businesses such as Smoothie King, On Cue, Subway and GNC were instrumental in pulling the whole thing off. We would like to thank all of the sponsors and Paul Lacoste, who provided the T-shirts, for helping to make it a successful event,” Walker said.