Travis Gottschalk of Kimball competed in the annual Paynesville 10K (6.2 mile) Pump and Run Race Saturday, June 19. This unique race requires each runner to weigh-in prior to the race and then bench-press their body weight with free-weights as many times as possible. One minute is then subtracted from the total elapsed 10K running time for each bench-press repetition completed. Most of the runners completed between two and nine repetitions. Gottschalk established a new bench-pressing record for this event. He completed 24 repetitions of his 180-pound body weight. Gottschalk completed the run in just over 45 minutes. After subtracting 24 minutes from the results of the bench-press, he had broken a nearly decade-old record by more than two minutes. Gottschalk is home for the summer after finishing his freshman year at South Dakota State University (SDSU) in Brookings, S.D., where he wrestled on the university’s varsity line-up in the 174-pound weight class. He plans to do weight training and conditioning over the summer in preparation for his second year of college wrestling. Gottschalk was recently granted a Division I wrestling scholarship by SDSU for his outstanding efforts to the team this past season. He is the son of Scott and Astrid Gottschalk and is a 2003 graduate of Litchfield High School.
