Blumenstein holds the engraved plate with his team on it, commemorating his joining of the school’s Iron Crusader Club. MARIA POUCHNIKOVA / TIMES PHOTO
By Ed Morrone
Times Sports Editor
As Pete Blumenstein galloped on a treadmill inside Father Judge’s Mitchell Athletic Center on Monday morning, he thought about pushing the stop button several times.
But as a crowd of students, teachers and administrators grew behind Blumenstein to cheer him on, he gazed out the window toward the school building, knowing there were plenty more peers counting on him. Undaunted, he increased his speed setting and raced toward the figurative finish line, needing to complete a two-mile run in 12 minutes time.
He got there at the 11:55 mark, collapsing on to his back on the treadmill’s now still conveyer belt with five seconds to spare. In a school with so much tradition and history, Blumenstein officially became Judge’s first Iron Crusader.
“With a quarter-mile left, I almost hit stop a couple of times, but I just pushed through,” Blumenstein said. “I knew there were kids inside the building waiting for me to come back in at lunch to celebrate me doing this. It’s a personal achievement that I’m proud of, a culmination of what I’ve been doing for four years, which is pushing myself to new limits accomplishing new things, be it in the classroom or playing sports. Once I started, there was no way I wasn’t finishing.”
Let’s rewind. Jimmy Lynch was hired as Judge’s athletic director in the summer of 2013, and with him he brought a new commitment to health, fitness and wellness, not just for the school’s athletes, but for the entire student body in an initiative called the Patrick S. McGo-nigal Cen-ter for Fit-ness and Well-ness. If a student was interested in learning about fitness and the proper way to take care of his body, there was a place in Lynch’s program, which opened up the state-of-the-art weight room and gymnasium inside the Mitchell Center for everyone, not just Judge’s elite athletes.
In December of that year, Lynch implemented something called the Iron Crusader Club, “an elite fitness club at Father Judge which showcases the talents of the students’ individual fitness levels.” To join the Iron Crusader Club, interested participants must complete eight of 10 established fitness standards set forth by the Fitness and Wellness staff in a span of 30 days. Three attempts per standard are allowed, and if a participant tries and fails to gain membership, he must wait 60 days to try again.
Blumenstein is a senior member of the school’s crew team and has been since he was a freshman. He always enjoyed exercising, and when he discovered what the rigors of rowing did for his overall fitness level, he decided to challenge himself even more. And while Lynch said other students have tried to become Iron Crusaders on a superficial level, Blumenstein was the first serious contender.
“A couple kids said they would do it, then they quickly realized how hard it was,” Lynch said. “The more Pete trained, the more I sensed he could be the first to do it. Crew is a very physical and mental sport, and you need to be at the top of your game in both to succeed. This kind of competition is not for everyone, but for elite kids who can highlight fitness success at a high level. I saw Pete was serious, and his completion of it definitely validates the program and the idea of it.”
In addition to the two-mile run in 12 minutes, Blumenstein also had to complete the following fitness standards: a 300-meter sprint in 43 seconds, a shuttle run in nine seconds, 25 pull-ups, 60 push-ups, 10 minutes of continuous jump rope, 20 dips and a core stand for 2 minutes, 30 seconds. The other two standards he passed on were squatting 200 percent of his body weight, and bench pressing 150 percent. He began on Jan. 30 and finished with the two-mile run on Monday, doing so inside on the treadmill instead of on the outdoor track, which is still covered by thick sheets of snow and ice.
“It’s definitely a huge confidence boost, to be able to complete all eight,” he said. “I told myself I would do this and I did, and I didn’t hold anything back. I’ve always chosen to push myself in sports the same way I have in the classroom. If you’re dedicated, passionate and push yourself to achieve, you’ll do well. You get out of it what you’re willing to put in.”
A St. Jerome product, Blumenstein was drawn to Judge due to its close proximity, as well as the team-first environment the school fosters (his older brother and cousin attended Judge). Since he arrived on campus, he’s shot to the top of his class academically, is an All-Catholic rower, joined the school’s robotics club and is part of the Student Leadership Club. Blumenstein plans to major in mechanical engineering, either at Drexel (where he’s already been admitted), or Penn or Princeton, both of which he is still waiting to hear back from. He plans to keep rowing wherever he goes to college, and being Judge’s first Iron Crusader is just another feather in his exemplary resume’s cap. In essence, Blumenstein personifies the quintessential student-athlete, and he’s been able to accomplish it all right around the corner from where he grew up, instead of venturing to a prep or other faraway suburban school with a glitzier reputation.
“I think it shows that you don’t have to go to some big, fancy, expensive school to accomplish something,” he said. “Coming out of eighth grade, nobody said, ‘Oh, we have to get him to come here because he’s the greatest athlete.’ I was always generally a small kid, but what you get by coming here is a mentality to dedicate yourself to something. Coming to Judge, you have the added bonus of everyone being in it together, and nobody is singled out because the sport they play is different. Instead, we push ourselves and push each other so that we can all excel.”
As the first member of the Iron Crusader Club, Blumenstein received a T-shirt and an engraved gold plate with his name on it that will hang on the wall inside the Mitchell Center weight room. Though Blumenstein will graduate soon, his name will live on in Judge lore; and now that he’s the first to get through, both he and Lynch hope others will now follow suit after seeing the evidence that it is indeed possible with the right amount of hard work and dedication.
“The plate will stay up on the wall, and kids can see it and remember him,” Lynch said. “It will get them thinking they can do it. Maybe there’s an overweight freshman in the school who sees it and gives him something to shoot for. It’s a neat opportunity to showcase a different side of being an athlete while focusing on fitness, health and wellness. As a student-athlete, Pete’s a dream, someone who is on the top of his game in the classroom and the field of play. Hopefully, this piques the interest of other kids, who we want to continue to challenge themselves academically and athletically to be a bigger part of the school community. And the goal isn’t one month and you’re done; it’s designed to build you up and continue on that level moving forward.”
Blumenstein sure did, and he’s a better student, athlete and person because of it. When Lynch walked him back over to his next class, the students inside gave Blumenstein a standing ovation.
“I think it shows that anyone can do it,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how much it hurts or how much you want to stop. My legs were burning and my heart was pounding, but what pushed me through was looking out the window at the school and thinking of the kids sitting in there who wanted me to do this as much as I did myself. That’s what’s special about Father Judge, the support everyone shows when somebody tries to accomplish something. There’s no jealousy that I was the first instead of them, because here, everyone wants you to succeed.” ••
Follow Ed on Twitter @SpecialEd335.
Quite a Crusader: Pete Blumenstein completed his eighth and final fitness standard on Monday — a two-mile run in 12 minutes — to gain entry into an exclusive Judge fitness club. MARIA POUCHNIKOVA / TIMES PHOTO
Judge athletic director Jimmy Lynch (left), who implemented the Iron Crusader Club in December 2013, times Blumenstein in his last event, Monday’s two-mile run. MARIA POUCHNIKOVA / TIMES PHOTO
Quite a Crusader: Pete Blumenstein completed his eighth and final fitness standard on Monday — a two-mile run in 12 minutes — to gain entry into an exclusive Judge fitness club. MARIA POUCHNIKOVA / TIMES PHOTO
Quite a Crusader: Pete Blumenstein completed his eighth and final fitness standard on Monday — a two-mile run in 12 minutes — to gain entry into an exclusive Judge fitness club. MARIA POUCHNIKOVA / TIMES PHOTO
