By Miranda Holloway
Sports Editor
Signing up for junior leaders as a sophomore, junior Nick Cartwright expected to spend his gym period weight lifting. But when the class began it was obvious this was no ordinary gym class.
Brent Pearlman has paired with the sports marketing class and Lance Burmeister to form what is know as Prime Time Knights, or PTK.
This pairing sets up events that try to involve the school in physical fitness. They began the year running the Biggest Winner competition to see who could loss the most weight and become the most physically fit. Now they are onto a different challenge: to find the best athlete in the school through the Superstars competition.
“We split up into numerous different committees and we take leadership roles and try and get work done and plan things for the events,” Cartwright said.
Cartwright is on the games committee where he and his classmates plan the rules to the events that will determine the champion. Based off of the ABC reality show, the Superstars competition pits both male and female students of all ages against each other in five different events.
The competition beings on March 14 with the first event the kayak race, which will be held at Wheeling high school.
“The kayak is going to be interesting because not a lot of people kayak. Each one of them is going to have a little twist that will make it enjoyable to watch,” Pearlman said.
The competitors will then fight each other with combat sticks on March 30. After that they will participate in the book bag toss on March 31, where there is a full backpack is thrown like a shot put or discus.
The fourth event is a bike race, which will be held rain or shine on April 7. After the bike race the competitors will then compete in the final event: the obstacle course.
This course will be run twice; once on April 14 to determine the finalists and again on the announcements on April 21 to determine the champion.
The champion, however, does not necessarily need to be an all-star, varsity athlete. Sophomore Jacob Molli, a member of PTK through his sports marketing class, does not play any sports for the school besides Ultimate Frisbee, but is still looking forward to participating in the event.
“Every summer when I go up to camp I do a lot of kayaking up there so I think that is an advantage that I might have over some of the other people in the competition,” Molli said.
The event is open to students of all ages, both male and female. Teachers and faculty members, such as school psychologist Dr. Jay Kyp- Johnson, are also able to participate in this event.
Kyp- Johnson was approached to participate in the event by a student and originally did not know very much about the competition. He nonetheless agreed and is looking forward to having fun with the rest of the students and staff.
“I like it when we do things where adults and students can just have some fun together because sometimes we have to be really busy, there is a lot of getting things done,” Kyp- Johnson said. “It’s fun to relax and enjoy doing things together,”
Fun is one of the most important aspects of the competition. Students are allowed to come and watch their friends compete and cheer on their favorite competitors. The members of PTK are hoping to keep the competition alive in future years and one day achieve a “knight games like” atmosphere.
Molli, Cartwright, and Pearlman all stress the fact that anyone can enter the event and have fun. All they need is a competitive spirit.
“It’s going to be fun to do, I think the events are fun, and if you enjoy competing you will enjoy the Superstars,” Pearlman said.
As a competitor, Molli is hoping that his competive edge will help him in his battle to become a superstar.
“…I would like to win. I’m in it to win it, but if I don’t I won’t be disappointed as long I have fun doing it,” Molli said.