Day Two of Oklahoma City Challenge in the Books
November 13, 2012 | Softball
Nov. 13, 2012
Senior outfielder Chrisanna Roberts continues her blog on day two of the Oklahoma City Challenge.
The Challenge
Day two of the Oklahoma City Challenge is in the books and it was definitely a full team effort. Like the first day the events were broken up into two separate halves both worth 100 points each. The first half consisted of two separate events, a 275 pound sled drag and a bike climb. Between the eight members of your team you had to have five separate bikes all reach two miles on gear 20, and drag the heavy sled 400 yards. The first team to do so would win the first half. Riding on gear 20 on the bike feels like you're pedaling up the steepest hill on earth so riding for two miles as fast as you can is harder than you think.
And they're off
Both teams began with most of their team on the bikes and a few members on the sleds. The sled event was finished first and it came down to an all-out final sprint on the bikes between the two teams to see who could finish first. As the last Black team member's bike odometer clicked over to two miles we celebrated and captured the first 100 points of the day.
That was just the beginning...
The second half of the day was much more complex and took the entire team and coaching staff out to the freezing cold sand pit. Teena had devised a sandpit medley which consisted of four different exercises and would be completed in a relay race fashion. The first exercise was 20 box jumps up onto a 24 inch box. The next exercise was picking up a 40 pound medicine ball and throwing it as far as you could (which was only a few feet) running to it picking it up and repeating. You would do this the entire length down and back of the sand volleyball court which was about 30-40 yards in length. Once you completed this you could move onto the third exercise which was picking up two 50 pound dumbbells, one in each hand, and walking as fast as you could the length down and back of the sand court. The final leg of the race was just an all out sprint down and back in the sand. Once you completed all four of these exercises, IN A ROW, you could slap your partners hand and they could then begin the medley. The first team to have seven members of their team complete the medley would be victorious. We would complete this three times and the first team to win two full medleys would win the second 100 points.
The outdoor weather elements definitely played a hand in this challenge. The boxes we were jumping onto were covered with frost so we had to clear them off to try and make it less slippery for our teammates. Despite our efforts there were still a few wipe outs which only made the event more entertaining. Secondly, the volleyball pit was frozen and seemed more like snow than sand which had us not being able to feel your fingers by the end of it. I know I may be biased, but I will say that the Black Team controlled this event winning back-to-back medleys by large margins and earning them the second 100 points of the day.
And the bonus...
Just when we thought we were done for the day, Teena surprised us all by offering a bonus challenge worth another 100 points. Maggie Ruckenbrod from the Black Team and Jordan Trimble from the Red Team would go head-to-head on the versa climber. First person to reach 200 feet would win the points. Both girls gave superior performances but Maggie was able to capture the win earning the Black Team another 100 points. Following the Black teams dominating performance on day two we are now leading 350 points to 50 points. However, Thursday's event is worth 400 points so it is still anyone's game.
