Hill teams compete for base Survivor title

  • Published
  • By Catherine Cornett
  • Hilltop Times correspondent
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  There are no plans for the popular CBS TV show "Survivor" to have a Hill Air Force Base season, but it's obvious that if a season of "Survivor" were to be filmed here, there'd be challenges, teamwork and action galore. 

Despite the lack of an exotic locale, dishes of disgusting cuisine and the scheming competitors that usually go along with a typical episode, Roger Braner, Sustainment Flight Chief of the 75th Force Support Squadron, decided that a "Survivor" spin-off challenge was just what the base needed. 

Braner spent the last five years designing such a challenge in Europe, where the event lasted over one month instead of just one day as it did here at Hill AFB. On Feb. 19, 45 people stepped up to the challenge and participated in Hill Air Force Base's own version of the Survivor Fitness Challenge at the Warrior Health and Fitness Center.
Braner cited the TV show as his main inspiration and hopes to turn the challenge into an annual event that could possibly even grow into something much larger. Katherine 

Purser, a member of the 75th Force Support Squadron, said that the event not only promoted awareness of the gym's facilities, but also advanced fitness and team unity.
Purser described the challenges before the contest began that the nine five-person teams were to face as both physical and mental. Each team would have to work together on challenges like the buddy drag and put their heads together for others like the fitness and nutrition trivia questions. 

Mercy Johnson of the 75th Logistics Readiness Squadron and a member of Team Four found out just how close the competition could be. Her team lost the lateral weight lift challenge by just one second. One of the hardest aspects of the competition was knowing if other teams had quit or not, Johnson said. Still, she's looking forward to next year's competition. 

David and Devin Gongora, leaders of Team Four, contractors for the group fitness program, and owners of D & D Fitness, both thought the event was successful in getting competitors to meet new people and learn their limits. "We just thought we'd come out and try something new," they said. Despite finishing early, the members of Team Four stayed to cheer on friends and members of the remaining teams. 

After more vigorous challenges, only Teams Two and Five remained. Their last challenge consisted of each member sitting against the wall, legs bent at a 90 degree angle, while holding a basketball above their head. As a crowd gathered around the competitors, both teams focused on being the last man or woman standing, or, rather, squatting. 

After about 20 minutes of fierce competition, Team Five was victorious. Despite there being only one victor, high fives and pats on the back were shared among all, competitors and friends alike. 

The members of Team Five, Capt. Nicole Winters of the 75th Operations Support Squadron, 1st Lt. Ryan "Big Hungry" Silva of the 84th Radar Evaluation Squadron, 2nd Lt. Mikeal Gruber, also of the 84th RES, 2nd Lt. "Nasty" Nate Carlson of the 501st Combat Sustainment Squadron, and Michelle Smith of Crossroads Fitness, championed over this year's Survivor Fitness Challenge. 

After they posed for celebratory photos, the team members all described the competition as challenging. "The quiz almost got us!" Silva said. Teamwork and the anticipation of anything to come were two reasons the team thought they did so well. Despite the obstacles, they were able to stick together and have a lot of fun. 

Even though the Survivor Fitness Challenge is over, four of the five members still have other competitions to look forward to this year. 

Carlson is planning on running in the Salt Lake City Marathon and the Zion's Bank Ogden Marathon, along with Silva, this spring. Winters and Smith are also running the Zion's Bank Ogden Half Marathon. 

Though the members of Team Five had, as Braner described it, the "honor of being Hill Air Force Base's lone survivors," everyone who competed still came away from the competition with something, be it a Survivor Fitness Challenge T-shirt or a sense of accomplishment.