Raider Elite wraps up record summer

Raider Elite, the Hudson School District’s in-house strength and conditioning program, completed a record-setting summer program earlier this month with a number of awards presented to its top performers.

A record number of participants took part in the program this summer with a number of new Raider Elite individual records set.

Each summer the program conducts a post-test of all athletes to measure their goals, set school records and kick off the 2012-2013 athletic season. The Raider Elite program recognizes its high school athletes by giving out awards that represent the values of the program. Each winner is given a commemorative jersey to mark their accomplishments.

Athletes who set a new Raider Elite Era records (last four years) were rewarded with a “Green Jersey,” and included Alex Burgess (boys’ squat, 473 pounds), Taylor Steffen (girls’ bench press, 152 pounds), Mike Hommes (boys’ pro agility, 4.13 seconds), Molly Malecha (girls’ vertical jump, 23 inches) and Matt Iverson (boys’ power clean, 275 pounds).

The Drive award is given to the athletes who represent continual hard work and who push themselves and the athletes around them to new levels. This award is represented by a "Red Jersey". The winners of the 2012 Drive award were Dayton Diemel, Matt Johnson, Michelle Murphy, Stu Burns and Burgess.

The Dedication award is given to the athlete who shows unparalleled dedication to the program through the highest attendance. This summer the winner of the "White Jersey" was Josh Nelson.

The Determination award is given to the athlete who makes the most gains from their pre-testing to their post-testing. They have made significant strength, speed and endurance gains throughout the summer. The "Silver Jersey" was awarded to Malecha and Nathan Fenner.

The Elite Jersey is given to the athlete who has the overall highest score in the bench press, squat, power clean, pull-ups, 40 yard dash, pro agility and vertical jump. Past winners include Chas Larson, Tyler Smrcina, Grif Christenson and Kate Beemer. This year the Elite Award represented by the Gold Jersey was awarded to Murphy for the girls and Hommes for the boys.

At test outs, Raider athletes in the program as a whole squatted over 27,000 pounds, enough combined power to lift a semi-truck.

The athletes dedicated over 4,500 hours of training this summer. If spread out, that would mean the Raiders put in enough time to train non-stop for over half of a year.

Tags: sports, raiders, prep