Army ROTC hosted its inaugural Frog Strong competition on Saturday morning, allowing students to get a taste of how ROTC cadets train on a weekly basis.

The competition allowed teams of up to four people to compete against one another in activities that Army ROTC cadets participate in at their mandatory physical training (PT) sessions each week.

Teams met at 7 a.m. in the campus commons for the competition. The event consisted of two minutes of pushups, two minutes of sit-ups and a timed two mile run through the campus.

Three teams, all associated with fraternities, participated in the event. Delta Tau Delta, Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji) and Alpha Phi Alpha competed against each other.

Teams were scored on their performance in each activity through the points system used in the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), which is weighted on age and gender. The four-man Fiji team won the competition with a total of 171.75 APFT points.

Cadet Maj. Jarrod McClendon said Army ROTC was inspired to put on the event after realizing that many students are not very knowledgeable of what PT sessions consist of.

“The point was to bridge the gap between Army ROTC and the rest of campus,” McClendon said. “I felt like that there was a lack of information about what exactly it is that we do here.”

McClendon said it is important that cadets feel connected with the rest of the student body and vice versa.

“One morning, the cadets were doing a PT test at 6 a.m. out on the track and I said, ‘It would make sense if no one on campus knew that these 100 cadets are out here doing this right now,’” McClendon said. “I said, ‘Let’s offer the campus something that they have to do as well.’”

McClendon said that signup fees for each team will be used to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, a non-profit charity service for U.S. military veterans.

Senior Spanish major Marquis Harris, who competed with the Alpha Phi Alpha team, said the event was a great opportunity to do something different and demanding, while also supporting the Wounded Warrior Project.

“Overall, it was pretty intense,” Harris said. “The sit-ups were definitely the hardest thing, but it was definitely worth it. You know, getting up and out there and having fun at seven in the morning and pushing them out.”