Some would say that there is never a good time to showcase how “strong” a person may be. Well, if there was ever a time to show off what you are made of, Union’s Most Fit competition was the place to be.
Students from across campus showed off their ability to jump rope, flip tires and other strenuous tasks to prove their strength and might.
The competition was held on Thursday night, Nov. 5th in Union’s small gym. Both Greek and independent groups showed off their muscles to a full audience of supporters. Among the different groups were Zeta Tau Alpha, Chi Omega, Lambda Chi Alpha, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and two independent teams by the name of “Sweat Angels” and “INDY.”
The competition consisted of jumping rope, bench pressing, tire flipping and wall sitting. Since each individual task was harder than the last, all of the contestants showed their will power to keep going. But at the end, there could only be one winner in the men’s and women’s division.
The overall winners of the night were Zeta Tau Alpha 1 for the women’s portion, and INDY for the guys.
Avery Phillips, a junior exercise science major and a member of INDY, said that although his team waited until the last minute to join the festivities, it all seemed to come together at the end.
“It was spur of the moment that we decided to do it, but it turned out to be a lot of fun,” Phillips said. “Since I knew all the guys on the team, and even though we got together less than 24 hours ago, it feels nice to come out on top.”
Phillips also says the hardest part of the night was watching his teammates and not being able to help out where needed, including some injuries.
“The hardest part for me was not being able to get out there and help them out, when I really wanted to. But, overall as a team, we had a lot of injuries. We were falling apart, but we dodged some bullets with picking the events, but it turned out in our favor.”
Cassidy Sheppard, a junior marketing major and member of Zeta Tau Alpha 1, believed that though it was “exhausting” and “exhilarating”, all of the different girls on her team made it all worthwhile in the end.
“We are all different and have different strengths. Some of us are tall, some of us are thin and some of us are tall drinks of water,” Sheppard said jokingly. “It was so fun to get to bond with my sisters and be able to pull all of our different strengths together, and to just have fun!”
Blake Pennington, the wellness services director, planned this event for more than two months and said that overall, he enjoyed the new concept that surrounded the event this year that he plans to keep for future events.
“My favorite parts of the event were the tire flip and speed round,” Pennington said. “These were two events that we added this year and were a lot of fun to watch. I also liked the “team” aspect this year. In years past it has been an individual competition and has been successful. However, the team aspect brought a new energy level that the participants and crowd really enjoyed.”
