Union Knights Football Team

The 1st annual Union Strong Man Contest was a success this past Friday night. The event lasted less than an hour and generated a crowd for the four teams of Union Footballers that put on quite a show. The "free will" donation at the door in addition to concessions added up to $1773.00 being donated to Coach Ed Thomas, head coach of Aplington-Parkersburg. Ed made a special appearance and thanked the Union Knight fans for their support. Thanks to Troy and Christine Mangrich, Linda DeSousa in addition to Coaches Andy McQuillen and Mike Schmidt for their help throughout the night. Cheerleading Coach Kayleen Glenn and the squad were also there to offer their support along with Union Knight parents and fans.

The strong man contest was tied after two relay events (tire flip and farmer's walk) and two individual events (135lb max rep bench press and 95lb max rep axel press). That led to the last event where a new Union Knight team record was witnessed. Gary Urban broke his previous record of 119 reps with a 24K kettlebell and hit 131 reps for a 6917 lb total! In addition new individual records were set by Zach Bathen (24K for 98 reps, 5174lbs) which puts him at #5 all time, Zach Purdy (24K for 90 reps, 4752lbs) which puts ties him at #7 all time, and personal best with 24K, Dylan Schmitz with 69 reps for 3643lbs.

Axel Press results: First place, 30 reps at 95lbs, Skyler Hager; Second place, 28 reps, Tad Talaska; Third place, 24 reps, Matt Gross; Fourth place, 19 reps, Austin Bunz.

Bench Press 135lb rep max results: tied for first place with 25 reps, Matt Feuerbach and Matt Harting, third place was Johnny Goodwin 19 reps, and fourth place was Spencer Elliott with 17 reps.

Farmer's Walk relay with two 88lb kettlebells: First place Team Woodson, Second place Team Hager, Third place Team Christensen, and Fourth place Team Urban.

Tire Flip Relay with 250lb tire: First place Team Urban, Second Place Team Christensen, Third place Team Hager, and Fourth place Team Hager.

Overall Point Results:
First place: 15 points Team Urban
Second place: 14.5 points Team Hager
Third place: 11 points Team Christensen
Fourth place: 9 points Team Woodson