U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- The Air Force Academy’s Cadet Combat Conditioning Team debuted June 30 during the 2016 ESPN Battlefrog College Championship.
Former cadet 2nd Lt. Sandra Suito, Cadets 2nd Class Parker Gray and Matthew Blackburn, and Cadet 3rd Class Julia Corton, competed in the Battlefrog season 2 championship over spring break.
The Battlefrog College Championship is a timed obstacle course race of 20 obstacles, run by teams of four in a relay. Two teams run simultaneously, with the fastest team advancing to a three-day single elimination tournament.
The Academy was invited to compete in the inaugural season, but competition coincided with Recognition.
“We were proud to have the Air Force Academy team on the field for this year’s BattleFrog College Championship,” said Tom Davis, ESPN executive producer. “They were great representatives of the Air Force and the Air Force Academy, and held their own against the best collegiate obstacle course racing teams in the nation.,”
Results of the competition have not been announced but in the first episode, the Academy took eighth place out of 16.
The Military Academy won the competition in 2015, and posted the two fastest times on record.
The tournament also featured teams from Virginia Tech, Ole Miss, Virginia, Syracuse, Texas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, Colorado, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Arizona State and Eastern Kentucky.
The Academy entered the competition with several advantages due to their conditioning and training at altitude. The cadet area sits 7,200 above sea level, but the competition was held in Atlanta, which sits at an oxygen-rich 1,050 feet above sea level.
Corton, a Pittsburgh native, said the altitude difference between the Academy and her hometown showed her the advantage of conditioning at high altitude -- an advantage she carried into the Battlefrog competition.
“When I go home, I can breathe a lot easier, run a lot longer,” she said. “I can work out with a higher intensity without getting winded, versus here I feel like my lungs are bleeding. That’s nice.”