59 Yards to Gold: The 59 Yard Dash Results

(WVNS) — From Ghent, West Virginia your 59News Team competes for gold in the 59News Summer Games. Not as talented as Team USA in Paris, but certainly more entertaining. The games kick off with the results from the 59 Yard Dash.

The rules are simple, run 59 yards as fast as our team can run. Each runner will have two chances to reach their best time. The best of two will rank on our leaderboard with the top four finishers moving on to the double elimination medal bracket to compete for Gold, Silver, and Bronze.

While David Burnside keeps our morning show humming along playing the correct video to ensuring sound levels are…well level…his running game is interesting. Finishing with a time of 17.59 seconds, he trots his way to 20th place.

On the evening side, director Brianna Comer sets a 59News Summer Games first running the entire race barefoot with an impressive time of 11.94 seconds placing her at 17th place. Saying a lot about the other 46 employees getting beat by such a bold move on the hot July pavement.

From there the competition heats up with the Battle of the Jessica’s between reporter Jessica Farrish and digital producer Jessica Phillips. In the race for gold, only one Jessica can advance. After an impressive 10.81 second run, Jessica Phillips takes 7th place as the Best Running Jessica.

The always good natured Harper Emch, our midday producer takes his place at 5th running the 59 yards in just 9.53 seconds. 5th Place is a special spot among the leaderboard as he’ll act as standby if one of our top 4 competitors can’t compete in the medal round for whatever reason, excuse or injury occurs.

The top 4 competitors will advance to the medal round, double elimination bracket. The results are in and surprise even our judges. Brandon Eanes, our Executive Digital Producer comes in at 4th with a run of just 9.50 seconds. Not bad for the 30 year old dad still keeping pace with his younger self.

Speaking of age, the next competitor, Meteorologist Bradley Wells leaves the spectators speechless running a 9 second 59 Yard Dash to land him in 3rd place. While he ices his knees and complains about this back pain, 2nd place should be of no surprise.

Chief Meteorologist Joe Fitzwater coming in at 8.9 seconds for an impressive run. It was the little extra motivation of not being beat by his counterpart that helped him squeeze by Bradley to land at 2nd.

However, it was the star of the newsroom, 59News Reporter Caleb Okes that left the competition in the dust with a 7.44 second run and the first place spot of the qualifying round!

With the top 4 contenders set, the final medal race will be between #1 Caleb Okes vs #4 Brandon Eanes in the first heat. #2 Joe Fitzwater and #3 Bradley Wells in the second heat. The winners of each heat will advance to the race for gold while the eliminated runners will battle for Bronze in a head to head race.

The 59 Yard Dash – Medal Round

In the first heat between #1 Caleb Okes and #4 Brandon Eanes, it wasn’t even close! Crossing the finish line first, Caleb retains his spot as #1 advancing to the gold medal race. Brandon isn’t out just yet heading to the first elimination spot to compete for bronze.

The Battle of the Mets: Chief Meteorologist Joe Fitzwater and Meteorologist Bradley Wells go head to head for the race to gold. The favorite of this heat is, of course, Joe as the resident marathon runner. Can Bradley give Joe a run for his money?

Yes, in fact, he can! Meteorologist Bradley Wells takes the title of fastest StormTracker 59 meteorologist and advances to the gold round with Caleb while Joe moves to the elimination round with Brandon to compete for Bronze.

In the battle for Bronze, Joe, being the favorite still to win takes on Brandon in the last chance elimination round with the winner receiving Bronze in the 59 Yard Dash and the loser getting our thanks. It was a very close race with just 1 stride between them but in the end, Joe Fitzwater hits the finish line and becomes the first to receive a medal in the 59News Summer Games taking home the bronze!

But the race we’ve all waited for. Meteorologist Bradley Wells vs Reporter Caleb Okes. Caleb head into the competition winning every race he’s run so far, but is this the moment Bradley does the impossible?!

Absolutely not! Was there even a chance? Caleb runs away with the victory and the gold medal! However, equally as impressive for the 40 year old, self proclaimed couch potato, Bradley takes home the silver medal!

Congrats to all our runners and winner of the 59 Yard Dash! The medals are flowing and the fun is just beginning. There are plenty more upsets and surprises along they way as the 59News Summer Games returns Wednesday, July 31st at 5am in the Egg Obstacle Race.

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