Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Kimberly Hill | U.S. Army Maj. Samantha Wood, a medical specialist officer with Joint Forces...... read more read more
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AUSTIN, Texas –The California National Guard took home three first place spots at the All Guard Endurance Team tryouts at a DEKA FIT competition in Austin, Texas, Jan. 15, 2022.
The team, consisting of four Soldiers, including U.S. Army Maj. Angela Delwiche, a training site coordinator, Maj. Samantha Wood, a medical specialist officer, Maj. Robert Killian, a signal officer, and Staff Sgt. Christopher Monk, a paralegal specialist, placed first in overall best team.
The tryouts took place at the Austin Convention Center where over 120 National Guardsmen from 34 states and territories competed in a DEKA Fit challenge, which consists of 10 exercise ‘zones’ each preceded by a 500 meter run, the equivalent to a 5k .
"Anybody on any level can come out and do a DEKA FIT, because there's nothing that's too heavy, too long, or too fast, it's all very achievable," said Killian Jr., who also placed first among the male National Guard Soldiers competing and second in the competition overall.
While the team took home the first place prize, Wood finished first place among the National Guard female competitors, while Killian took home first place among National Guard competitors with a time of 31:28. Sgt. Derek Yorek with the Arkansas National Guard came in just behind Killian, with a time of 31:59 seconds.
"I know it was going to be a challenge to go toe to toe with him [Yorek], but we're still early in the season so anything can happen later on," said Killian.
The 10 “zones” of the competition were:
• RAM Alt Reverse Lunge
• 500M Row
• 24” Box Jump / Step Overs
• Med Ball Sit-Up
• 500M Ski Erg
• 100M Farmer’s Carry
• 25 kcal Air Bike
• Dead/Slam Ball Shoulder Over
• 100M Tank Push/Pull
• RAM Burpees
“Really, what this competition showed me regardless of your fitness level … you’re competing against yourself. … You’re showing excellence and going above and beyond,” said Brig. Gen. Michael Oster, the assistant adjutant general for the South Dakota National Guard’s Joint Force Headquarters.
Oster, who was the keynote speaker at the awards ceremony, said the competition "makes you feel good about who you are and it makes you feel good about what you do.”
“Everybody I talked to today wanted to run a better time than they ran the last time or the last workout they did before they came here,” Oster said.
Those who made the team, will represent the National Guard on the All Guard Team for the next two years, participating in at least 6 fitness challenges per year.
The event’s overall intent is to promote fitness and wellness across the National Guard force, according to Sgt. 1st Class Douglas Stephens, the National Guard’s military competitions coordinator.
“It opens up the door to talk to people at every venue,” Stephens said. “We have so many cool stories on the team. We have a guy that was in a car wreck and was told he would never walk again, and now he’s running marathons. So he gets to tell that story at every race, and it encourages people to join.”
| Date Taken: | 01.26.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 02.17.2022 17:38 |
| Story ID: | 414891 |
| Location: | AUSTIN, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 60 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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