Masters Fitness Collective Championship Day Three Recap
Photo Credit: Athlete’s Eye (instagram.com/athleteseyephotography)
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Saturday at the Grand Wayne Convention Center was action-packed as day three of the Masters Fitness Collective Championship provided a full schedule of events. The 14 divisions of masters athletes saw three events that tested their gymnastics, power output and their ability to endure grueling, high-capacity workouts.
The first event of the day was“Dragnastics,” a triplet that wore down the shoulders with a calorie ski-erg, double-unders with a drag rope and ending with a handstand walk to the finish. “He Who Hesitates” was a quick sprint that featured heavy deadlifts followed by 50 burpee box jump-overs. The final workout of the day was another couplet called “Is There an Echo?” that included four rounds of calories on a Rogue Echo bike and bar muscle-ups.
Highlights and interviews from day three of competition are available on the Morning Chalk Up’s YouTube Channel.
35-39 divisions
- Men: The largest lead within all the divisions belongs to Kyle Ruth who owns a 50-point lead over Ryon Anderson at the end of day three. Has yet to have a finish outside the top-two in any event, winning two more events on Saturday. Anderson collected the win over Ruth in “He Who Hesitates” for his second event victory of the competition. Kevin Jones is in third place with his best finish being second in “Dragnastics.”
- Women: This division will be the one to watch on Sunday as it remains the most competitive. Rachel Green and Briana Gaipa ended Saturday in the same position as Friday, tied for the lead. Green started her day with her third-straight victory, winning “Dragnastics” a minute ahead of runner-up Shannon Zimmerman. Gaipa remained consistent and patient and ended the day with her first event win of the competition, coming up one rep short of being the only female competitor to complete “Is There an Echo?” April Payne dropped down from the three-way tie to start the day and is 15 points behind the co-leaders.
40-44 divisions
- Men: Heath Moody keeps adding to his lead and winning events. He added two more victories on Saturday giving him four over the last five events. His performance opened up a 30-point lead over Tony Kurz who won “Dragnastics” to start the day but couldn’t close on the following two events after leading for most of them. Luke Wotruba remained in third place with his best finish being second in the days final event.
- Women: Jenn Ryan added another ten points to her day two lead to put her 30 points ahead of the field with two events remaining. She won two more events on Saturday to give her five overall. Sara Blunck collected the other win, coming from behind by going unbroken on the 100-foot handstand walk, finishing ten seconds ahead of Ryan in “Dragnastics” to start the day. Michelle Benedict remained in third place with three-straight bronze medal finishes.
45-49 divisions
- Men: The division finally saw a few athletes separate from the pack as Jeff Dodson became the third different athlete to lead after a day of competition. He started the day with a second place finish before reeling off consecutive wins in “He Who Hesitates” and in “Is There an Echo?”. He holds a seven point lead over Bill Thompson. Greg Anderson is in third place, 35 points behind Dodson.
- Women: Saturday was all about Julie Rappaport. She swept the events including a dominating performance in “He Who Hesitates” finishing nearly a minute ahead of Carol Mezan. Rappaport went from fourth place to start the day to holding a 28-point lead to end it. Mezan moved up from third to second place at the end of day three thanks to a pair of runner-up finishes. Kelly Edelmann dropped to third place with Mollie Pate falling from the lead down to fourth place.
50-54 divisions
- Men: Ron Ortiz’s lead is now 25 points after yet another solid day of competition. He won the opening two events and then ended the day with a third place finish. Lon Allen collected three silver medal finishes to pull ahead of Kevin Becker for second by five points. Becker took the event win in “Is There an Echo?” to stay in contention.
- Women: Deanna Hoffman continued her momentum from day two with back-to-back wins to end day three giving her a 10-point lead over Tia Vesser and Rose Wall who are both tied for second. Gina Cacchiotti-Wellner was the top finisher in “Dragnastics”, her second win of the competition.
55-59 divisions
- Men: Jody Clements carried his strong day two over to day three, claiming the overall lead after two more event wins and a runner-up finish in “He Who Hesitates.” Over his last four events he has three wins and a second place finish. Chris Podesto is just 15 points behind Clements, helped by a win in the second event of the day. Patrick Sprague fell from first to third place, 35 points behind the lead.
- Women: Linda Elstun remained in the lead after yet three more top-two finishes. She won two of the three events, giving her four event wins. Betsy Vanderburgh stayed in contention with a first place finish in “He Who Hesitates” and runner-up finishes to Elstun in event six and eight.
60-64 divisions
- Men: David Hippensteel continued to extend his lead over the field, ending the with a 41-point lead. He won his second event of the competition and added two second place finishes on Saturday. Hippensteel has five finishes in the top-two heading into Sunday. Carl Giuffre was the story in the division, moving into second place thanks to two event wins and a runner-up finish to Hippensteel in “Dragnastics”.
- Women: Donna Bruce stood at a hefty 45 points after winning one event and placing second in two others. Patricia Claro won the opening event of the day and followed that with two third place finishes. Theresa Demich won “Is There an Echo” for her second event win of the competition keeping her entrenched in third place overall.
65+ Divisions
- Men: George Koch remained in first just five points ahead of Ken Ogden. He won two of the three events on the including “Is There an Echo” where the 65-year old showed off his bar muscle-up abilities. Ogden won the opening event of the day with ten more reps completed than Koch. He made up the ten-point deficit from day one and ended day two in a tie with Ken Ogden.
- Women: Betty Hardin continued to dominate the division as she once again swept the day’s events. She is a perfect eight-for-eight in event victories resulting in a 35-point lead over Debi White.
On tap for the final day: Two events await the athletes on the final day of competition at the Grand Wayne Convention Center. The live feed of the event will be available on the Morning Chalk Up YouTube channel starting at 6:15 AM EST.
- Complete leaderboards for all 14 divisions are powered by Competition Corner.
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