A Grand Canyon University team won the academic bowl at the recent Southwest American College of Sports Medicine Conference in Costa Mesa, California, an event that featured GCU as the host school.
The team included Annika Grams, Payton Price and Isaiah Mews. They and a second GCU academic bowl team competed against a dozen other teams from universities such as UCLA and USC and will represent GCU and the region at the national conference in Colorado this summer.
"The big win came as a shock, as we were up against some of the most elite schools on the West Coast," said Exercise Science faculty member Anthony Acevedo, who added that both teams performed well. When GCU was announced as the winner, everyone was ecstatic. "We were jumping up and down," he said.
As the host school, GCU ran conference registration and helped with additional administrative duties. Grams and fellow GCU student Ruth Larson gave a presentation at the beginning of the Founder's Lecture about GCU and its Exercise Science program to introduce attendees to the University.
In addition to the academic bowl win, Price was selected to participate in the undergraduate oral research competition. He was given 10 minutes to present his research and had five minutes afterward for a question-and-answer session. The talk was titled “Impact of Mask Wearing on Post-Exercise Hemodynamics.” Price did not win but was awarded a small cash prize.
"The experience was so good for the students to connect with academics in the field and to be able to view themselves as an academic in their respective field," said associate professor Dr. Zach Zeigler, Exercise Science faculty. "Representatives from many other universities came up to me and said how professional and polite our students were throughout the registration process and how willing to help they were."
In addition to the academic bowl and undergraduate oral research competition, nine students represented their teams in poster presentations. Their abstracts will be published in the International Journal of Exercise Science. Here is a list of the work to be published and the authors:
— “Impact of Mask Wearing on Post Exercise Hemodynamics” by Payton Price, Malia Nowlen, Luke Heikka, Ryan Guenette, Ruth Larson, Adarius West, Justin Emelife, Sara Burton, Sofia Harman, Anthony Acevedo and Dr. Zachary Zeigler
— “Body Adiposity Index Compared to Body Mass Index in Predicting Adiposity in Army ROTC Cadets” by Kaitlyn Wabakken, Ruth Larson, Katelynn Brock, Annika Grams, Sara Thomasson, Sofia Harman, Payton Price, Anthony Acevedo and Dr. Zachary Zeigler.
— “Body Mass Index Superior to Body Adiposity Index in Predicting Adiposity in Male Collegiate Athletes” by Isaiah Mews, Payton Price, Ruth Larson, Sofia Harman, Annika Grams, Anthony Acevedo and Dr. Zachary Zeigler.
— “Diet Quality as a Predictor of Performance on ACFT Total Scores of ROTC Cadets by Sofia Harman, Grant Calhoun, Annika Grams, Ruth Larson, Payton Price, Sara Thomasson, Kaitlyn Wabakken, Katelynn Brock, Dr. Zachary Zeigler and Anthony Acevedo.
— “The Role of Body Fat Percentage and VO2MAX in Predicting Arterial Stiffness in Female College Students” by Sara Thomasson, Isaiah Mews, Sofia Harman, Payton Price, Natalie Pham, Ruth Larson, Grant Calhoun, Kennedy Kerbs, Annika Grams, Anthony Acevedo and Dr. Zachary Zeigler.
— “Body Composition as a Predictor of Performance on ACFT Total Score of ROTC Cadets” by Annika Grams, Ruth Larson, Payton Price, Sofia Harman, Sara Thomasson, Kaitlyn Wabakken, Katelynn Brock, Dr. Zachary Zeigler and Anthony Acevedo.
— “Fat-Fit Index on Predicting Cardiovascular Outcomes in College-Age Students” by Natalie Pham, Payton Price, Ruth Larson, Annika Grams, Isaiah Mews, Grant Calhoun, Sofia Harman, Kennedy Kerbs, Anthony Acevedo and Dr. Zachary Zeigler.
— “Impact of Mask Wearing during High-Intensity Interval Training on Exercise Hemodynamics” by Luke Heikka, Payton Price, Malia Nowlen, Ryan Guenette, Ruthie Larson, Adarius West, Justin Emelife, Sara Burton, Sofia Harman, Anthony Acevedo and Dr. Zachary Zeigler.
— “Maximal Aerobic Capacity as a Predictor of Performance on ACFT Total Scores of ROTC Cadets” by Ruth Larson, Annika Grams, Sofia Harman, Sara Thomasson, Kaitlyn Wabakken, Katelynn Brock, Payton Price, Dr. Zachary Zeigler and Anthony Acevedo.
Students attending the conference with Dr. Zach Zeigler and Anthony Acevedo were Annika Grams, Ruth Larson, Grant Calhoun, Isaiah Mews, Kaitlyn Wabakken, Katelynn Brock, Kennedy Kerbs, Luke Heikka, Natalie Pham, Payton Price, Sara Thomasson and Sofia Harman. They put together a video of the event, which can be viewed here.
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