The Emmaus fitness teams made another successful trip to San Diego recently for the Marine Corps Youth Physical Fitness National Championship.

The boys team captured their 12th National Championship, scoring 2,395 points, the most ever by a team from Emmaus. The girls, who have 14 championships, finished second to Bethpage High School, falling just seven points shy of first place.

Emmaus head coach George Gibbs, who took over the program in 1971 and added the girls team in 1987 was happy with how his teams performed throughout the competition.

“We start every year with over 100 kids and slowly, those numbers dwindle and you’re down to the ones who really have the dedication to doing this,” said Gibbs. “The kids this year were great. We didn’t have any problems and they all worked to get better and supported each other.”

Jac Cornell, a junior, led the boys team with an individual score of 489, the second highest of the event. Senior Matt Kramer, who led the team in scoring last season, finished with 481 points.

Third on the team was senior Chris Gauntner at 478, followed by junior Paul Iannacce, who finished at 477. Sophomore Nick Cappucci and senior Ian Adams were fifth and sixth, with scores of 470 and 463, respectively.

While the girls team didn’t come home with a championship, senior Meghan Cilento came home with an individual championship and set the national record for points with a score of 420, besting the previous high of 419 set by Maria Justus. Fellow seniors Amber Gross (372 points) and Kennedy Spencer (345), finished second and third on the Emmaus team, with sophomore Jill Bray (334) finishing fourth.

Seniors Shaelyn Weida and Micah Slaughter finished fifth and sixth on the team.

The girls finished with 1,798 points, just behind Bethpage High School, which scored 1,805 points. The closest competitor to the boys team was South Bronx, which came in 14 points behind Emmaus.

Gibbs also had six “B” Team competitors, who did well in their competition. Sophomore Chirssy Lambert scored a 316 and senior Kaitlyn Halleran finished with a 303. On the boys’ side, sophomore Haziel Rodriguez-Lugo scored 440 points, followed by senior Ryan Villaveces (430), sophomore Graham Tolson (426) and junior Ahbishek Joshi (381).

“It was actually a very young team,” said Gibbs. “We’ve got a lot of kids who will improve for next year and they’re already working hard and focusing on what they can do to get better and improve their scores.”

While in California, the team did some sightseeing and took part in an awards ceremony hosted by the Marine Corps. The team had five full days in San Diego to compete and enjoy the great weather.

Fitness is considered a club sport and doesn’t receive financial support from the school or East Penn School District.

The program survives thanks to donations from the community and organizations like the Lions Club, which also hosts a dinner in honor of the team after each year’s competition.

Gibbs also pointed out that parents of the players, and the players themselves, have been instrumental in providing support for the team, whether raising money, driving members to meets in various areas or making the trip to the west coast to support the team.

“These kids and their families do all that they can to help out our fundraisers throughout the year, to defray the costs that we have to travel and compete,” said Gibbs. “They work at that very hard and take it very seriously and it helps tremendously.”

The competition is held annually at the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot in San Diego and is comprised of pull-ups, sit-ups, push-ups, standing long jump and a 300-yard shuttle run. Competitors are awarded points based on their performance in each of the areas.