First annual Palouse Throwdown, first ever Eagle Fit competition

By Lelia Thatcher, Contributing Writer

Students may not be aware that Eagle Fit exists or that it participated in the first ever Palouse Throwdown tournament on April 18 in Pullman, Washington, hosted by the WSU CrossFit club.

It was the first of many competitions to come for the growing club, which was formed in the fall of 2012.

The club cannot officially use the name CrossFit until it has a CrossFit level one certified member and appeal to be a CrossFit affiliate, so for now the club are is called the Eagle Fit club. It is hoping to become an official CrossFit club by the Fall.

Six members of Eagle Fit went to Pullman for the tournament. Four competed as a team, one competed individually and one went for support due to an unrelated injury. Altogether, the club has about 10 members.

The four member team consisted Connor Darrow, Shelby Peerboom, club president Tatiana Schneider and the club’s certified fitness coach Patrick Schneider.

“[The tournament officials] told us the workouts ahead of time, but we didn’t know what it would feel like until we actually got there,” said Darrow.

The team placed 12th of the 12 that competed and acknowledged plenty of room for improvement.

“For our first competition, we learned a lot. We know what to expect now,” said Patrick Schneider.

Individually competing was Karla Lazarte who placed 10th overall. Supporting the competitors was Caylem Nunes, who club members said was most likely to place in the top 3 had he actually been able to compete.

The club members said everyone is welcome and is encouraged to join, regardless of fitness levels.

“Everyone thinks it’s only for people who want to do CrossFit 24/7 and eat nothing but lettuce and steak, but it’s really open to anybody who just wants to get in shape or have fun working with a team,” said Darrow.