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GHS football players team up to win hot dog contest
The main course changed for the second annual Fourth of July Eating Contest at Robe Ann Park on Thursday, but the results were the same as Greencastle football player Tanner Wood led his team to its second-straight title.
Wood, recent graduate Cole Pohlar, Elijah Williams and Spencer Rhine finished the marathon hot dog eating contest by eating a combined 32 dogs in 32 minutes.
The second place team, GHS players Chris Gilbert, Sedrick Weinschenk, Noah Barger and Mitch Marlow, was stopped after finishing 26 dogs. Coaches Wood, Gilbert, Zorman and Bolling finished third at 25.
"You can't think about it, you've just got to eat," Wood said.
Last year's contest was hot wings, which got progressively spicier as the contestants worked through their pile. The switch to hot dogs didn't change the strategy, but it did make the contest more difficult.
"With hot wings, you could eat fast and you wouldn't feel it as much," Wood said. "This year, the quicker you ate, the more you felt it."
The marathon mastication challenge began with eight dogs in front of each team member for a total of 32 for the four-member squads.
In relay fashion, when one contestant finished his pile, the next could begin.
But as the challengers quickly found out, eating eight hot dogs is no small feat. While the world records -- set earlier Thursday by professional Joey Chestnut -- is 69 hot dogs in 10 minutes, the amateur competitors at Celebrate 4 had to fight their bodies to put down eight.
The first eaters for each team began in a sprint, but it quickly settled into a marathon. The competitors seemed to hit a wall around the fifth dog and bun.
When Wood saw his teammates struggling, he volunteered to pick up the slack, stealing dogs from them and adding them to his own stack.
By the time it got to him, nearly 24 minutes into the contest, Wood had 12 dogs in front of him, 50 percent more than the other competitors had attempted.
Wood said being there to pick up for his teammates was an easy choice.
"I just know I can eat a lot, so I figured if it helps the team, why not?" Wood said. "I'm really proud of them. They pulled their weight. I pulled a little more."
Making the win even more remarkable was how quickly the winning team came together.
With most of last year's championship team out of town, Wood pulled together the group on the morning of the contest. With no practice or time to prepare, they came away with an easy win.
"I thought it would be fun," Wood said. "I went through my contacts and texted them and said, 'You're doing the eating contest tonight,'"
As a senior and a leader on the team, the team of mostly underclassmen had no choice but to comply.
For their effort, the group came away with a cash prize.
The eating contest, hosted by the Greencastle High School football team, also served as a fundraiser for the Greencastle Park Fund.
The annual tradition is expected to continue next year, GHS football coach Josh Buis said, though the food is not yet decided.