As she stood on the podium, exhausted after all the rigorous physical activity completed at the Reebok CrossFit Games in Madison, Wisconsin on Aug. 6, sophomore Ellie Kerstetter receives her third place medal with pride.

At the CrossFit Games, Ellie competed in various CrossFit-based exercises that feature aspects of various sports such as swimming, running and weightlifting.

Ellie was first introduced to CrossFit at two years ago by her father, Russel Kerstetter.

“My dad started out doing Crossfit and I would go to the gym with him when he trained,” Ellie said. “I am involved in gymnastics and so I tried some of the workouts and it was really fun.”

Ellie has competed at major CrossFit competitions including the CrossFit Games and Wodapalooza in Miami, Florida. She placed third at both events.

At the competitions, athletes perform a series of rigorous exercises including the Vest triplet, which is a 400 meter run, then 24 squats and 12 burpees while wearing a weighted vest, and the Run Swim Run which is a 1.5 mile run, a 500 meter swim and another 1.5 mile run.

WhileCrossFit is appealing toEllie because of all the different events such as the Vest Triplet and the Run Swim Run, she believes that it is also a lot of hard work because of the variety of events.

“The best part about CrossFit is that you are always doing something different,” Ellie said. “That’s probably the worst part too; it makes it really hard always having more things to work on.”

Ellie’s entire family has gotten involved in CrossFit, according to her sister, senior Anna Kerstetter. She believes it sets them apart from other families.

“My dad got involved with CrossFit first, from there my sisters, my mom and I started to do it,” Anna said. “Normal families go do normal family stuff, but my family all goes to the gym together.”

For Anna, who does not compete at CrossFit but does it for exercise and to support Ellie, the community of the sport is really important. She believes the people who do CrossFit are very supportive of each other.

“The community, the people there, are just amazing,” Anna said. “They support Ellie and everybody that does it.”

Although CrossFit is very challenging, she endures it because she enjoys building relationships with other athletes as well as getting stronger.

“It’s really fun to travel and I’ve met people from all over the world,” Ellie said.  “Also, I like pushing myself to keep getting better at [CrossFit].”