Connor Dykstra powered his way to the men’s heavyweight title at last week’s Sardis Strongman competition.
Five events were held over five days, challenging Sardis secondary school students with tests of strength and endurance.
The sled pull started it off last Monday followed by the sandbag shuttle on Tuesday, the tire flip on Wednesday, the sled push on Thursday and the farmer’s carry on Friday.
Points were added up after each event and Dykstra ended up with a three point edge over runner up David Brodie. Justin Crooks was third with Brock Cote and Kyle McCarrick tying for fourth.
Kellan Anhorn ran away with the men’s middleweight division, scoring a seven point win over second place Myles Vandeleur. Micah Causton was third with Colton Dirks, Quinn Venier and Morgan Bray also competing.
A crowded men’s lightweight division saw Logan MacDonald earn 45 points, seven more than runner up Jeff Nam. Max Comb was third with Cole Flokstra, Brendan Heppell, Simon Hoeppner, Caleb Hunter, Austin Kuehn, Kaiden Tether and Lucas Fawcett also competing.
Sam Moller’s 42 points won him the men’s flyweight division with a three point edge over Owen Tunnicliffe.
Scott Anderson was a strong third followed by Arlen Graves, Rome Romero, Liam Vantassell, Gavin Rutter, Eli Peters and Joseph Lobbes.
Twenty two students competed on the women’s side, split into two divisions.
Camryn Hryciw dominated the middleweights, rolling up 53 points.
Hunter Rodgers was next with 41 followed by Meilani Tuioti with 40.
Anya Flueckiger, Anne Biela, Emily Klein, Keira Maydiniuk, Halle Causton, Tess Venables, Shianna Chestney and Eliza Jackson-Gola also competed.
Stephanie Struys won the lightweight division with Amber Feaver second and Gracie Allanson third. Emma Eidsness, Veronica Sawatzky, Bobbi Poittris, Jayna Wiebe, Isabel Taylor, Grace Owens, Brooke Higginbottom and Julia Maria Hirch also competed.
This year’s Bob Fitzsimmons Award for most inspirational performance went to Sam Moller.
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The fifth annual alumni competition was held Friday night with 34 Sardis secondary school grads coming back to compete.
Alums tackled the tire flip and sled pull, and three divisions were decided by tug-of-war wins.
Taylor McArthur took the women’s lightweight title with a tug-of-war victory over Gaby Roy. Noelle Young was third followed by Xiao Carson, Sydney Lyons and Caitlyn Geary.
Christiaan Van Wyk beat Greg Luesink in a tug-of-war to capture the men’s lightweight division. Connor McCracken was third followed by Carl Biela, Chad Hipwell, Magnus Wolff and Steve Shuhany.
The men’s middleweight division came down to a tug-of-war, with Jacob Wilson besting Sean McCracken. Landon Plantenga was third with Tanner Gehman and Brandon Bond tying for fourth.
Michaela England scored a two-point win over Jordyn Hryciw in the women’s middleweight division. Amanda Marshall was third followed by Sofia Biela, Carly Larsen and Catherine Toop.
The marquee event was the men’s heavyweight battle.
Ten alums entered and Kolton MacDonald emerged victorious with a two-point win over Damon McArthur.
Third place came down to a tug-of-war, with Jesse Hooge outmuscling Wes Vannieuwenhuizen. Kyle Trydal-McQuaig was fifth followed by Braydon Berthelet, Justin Woodruff, Leo Baker, Fraser Young and Derrick Huizenga.