Once again, the Emmaus High School Fitness team traveled to San Diego to compete in the Marine Corps National High School Physical Fitness championships and once again, they returned home victorious.

The boys team finished first in the country for the fifth-straight year, while the girls picked up their fifth championship in the last six years. This year's victories give Emmaus a total of 23 National Championships, 12 for the girls and 11 for the boys.

Coach George Gibbs, who has been involved with the team since 1971 and has been the head coach for 37 years now, is proud of his team's members and how hard they work for him.

"It's really gratifying to work with these kids," said Gibbs. "They're really the reason why I do this."

Senior Alex Fruhwirth notched her third-straight individual title, tying Emmaus' Nicole Reinhard as the only girl to accomplish that fete. Fruhwirth scored a 381, finishing seven points ahead of teammate Lindsey Bray, also a senior. Emmaus had two other girls in the top six, with Brielle Weida finishing fourth and Britt Vella finishing sixth. The top six finishers comprise what is called the National Gold Team.

Emma Shubzda and Sammi Roth both finished as members of the next tier of finishers, known as the Silver Team. Shubzda is a junior and Roth is a sophomore. While not on the first team of six members, sophomore Kristen Bray made the trip to San Diego and competed in preliminary competitions, known as the Pilot Team and scored the highest of the 12 girls competing in that category.

Among the boys, it was the third year in a row that a member of the O'Donnell family finished as the national champion. Sam O'Donnell took his second straight championship becoming the first repeat champion since 1990. O'Donnell finished with a final score of 493, just seven points away from a perfect score, which his brother, Jake accomplished in 2011. Another brother, Nate, had competed with earlier championship fitness teams from Emmaus and their father, Mike, was on the team in the late '70s.

Gordan Daichendt finished second with a score of 482 and Chris Picarello was fourth in the country with a score of 474. Junior Will Martinez and senior Manny Adamo finished with a final score of 470, with Martinez being awarded fifth and Adamo sixth based on the first tie-breaker, which is speed. The top finishes gave Emmaus five of the six spots on the Gold Team and senior Mike Dellanoce finished with a score of 450 to make the Silver Team.

Four other boys competed on the Pilot Team, with Devon Tarikh finishing with a 456, the highest score of the thirty-some competitors. Steve Peek was fourth, Matt Schmoyer sixth and Kevin Rodgers finished seventh.

Gibbs said while his team keeps winning, there have been some changes in the competition over the years. For one thing, Gibbs said the judging was very strict this year compared to other years and they're seeing a lot more Junior ROTC teams competing.

"Some of the JROTC teams are very good, but some of them really aren't up to the competition, because they do a different type of training. They're focusing on other aspects and aren't always as good at the fitness competitions," explained Gibbs.

Getting the experience of competing on a Marine Base in San Diego and being around Marines for the competition has influenced many members of the Emmaus Fitness Team to enlist in the Marines. Three members of this year's team - Sam O'Donnell, Manny Adamo and Britt Vella - are all going into the Marines. O'Donnell left for Marine boot camp this past Sunday, Adamo will leave this Sunday and Vella leaves in October. The three members of one team are the most from any one of Gibbs' teams to go on to a career in the Marines, but the program has now seen seven members in four years go on to the Marines.

"The Marines never do a hard-sell," emphasized Gibbs. "Just the experience of being on the base and being around the whole environment out there is a great experience for these kids and they get to be in the barracks and see a little bit about what life is like."

While in San Diego, the team was also able to spend some time on a couple beaches and take in a San Diego Padres baseball game as part of the trip.

Next year is going to be an interesting one for the team, since 11 of the 17 members graduated this year.

"A friend of mine was joking with me the other day and said 'now, we're going to see how good of a coach you really are'," laughed Gibbs. "I've known this was going to happen for some time, obviously and we have some good young kids and they'll work hard to get us another championship."