MEDINA COUNTY GAZETTE (Medina, Ohio) 11 August 08 A day away from the pond (Lisa Hlavinka)
Liverpool TWP: Although frog jumping is not an Olympic sport, the competition at the 47th annual Valley City Frog Jump Festival was just as intense as in Beijing.
Nearly 700 people showed up to the event, held at Mill Stream Park in Valley City on Sunday.
There were 34 heats—or “flights” as they are called by officials—throughout the day, and 20 frogs entered per flight. Each contestant was allowed two entries.
Katie Wagner, 18, of Brunswick, screamed and dove on her stomach to get her frog to jump.
“I’ve been coming here since I was 6 months old and my dad has been coming since then, so I got it from him,” Wagner explained of her technique.
Other curious methods included whistling at the frogs and slapping a shoe on the ground next to them.
Traditional methods seemed to work just as well. Cory Schultz, 14, of Liverpool Township, used the more traditional method of slapping both hands on the ground on either side of the frog —winning him the prize for longest jump of the day.
Schultz’s frog, Bird Brain, jumped 14 feet, 10 inches. Schultz found Bird Brain the night before the competition in his neighbor’s pond on Grafton Road.
“Last night I tried twice to get him,” Schultz said. “I couldn’t get him the first time, but I tried an hour and a half later and then I got him. It was pouring.”
Schultz was not the only one hunting for frogs in the middle of the night. Leaders of Boy Scout and Cub Scout troops were out hunting for frogs in local ponds to rent to contestants for $5.
“We go out to the ponds until 4 or 5 in the morning, catching them,” said Paul Good, assistant pack leader for Cub Scout Troop 3502.
If the troop finished catching the frogs at 5 a.m. they were just in time, considering the first contestant showed up at 5:45 a.m., even though sign-ups didn’t began until 10 a.m., according to Valley City Chamber of Commerce secretary Rod Knight.
Knight said the frog jump, founded in 1962, has become “a matter of pride” to families who have generations of competitors.
“There’s three or four generations of trophies on the mantelpiece,” said Knight, whose children and grandchildren participate in the event.
He said there is an inherent sense of community to the frog jump, since the entire community helps put on the event.
“People who aren’t otherwise greatly involved will come out and help,” Knight said.
He said people schedule their family vacations around the event, and added that a family came all the way from Japan to attend this year.
“There is a magic to it that makes people want to come back,” Knight said.
Part of the magic might be the naming of the frogs. Some went the traditional route, naming their frogs Champ, Lucky and Kermit, while others showed their creativity — and sense of humor — with names like Thumper Cutie Pie, In the Skillet, and Beautiful Like My Mother.
Others, like David Mosen, 9, of Hinckley Township, were creative with the way they carried their frogs. While most carried their frogs in 5-gallon buckets, Mosen and his father, also named David, carried his frog in a large wheeled trash can.
“That’s the trick — so they don’t jump out,” the elder David explained.
Public officials judged the competition throughout the day, including: state Reps. Bill Batchelder and Bob Gibbs, county commissioners Stephen D. Hambley and Pat Geissman, and county recorder Colleen Swedyk. Mario Russica, a candidate for county prosecutor, also was on hand to judge the event.
Each frog was allowed three jumps from the center of a parachute, which was the playing field for the contest. Competitors were allowed to touch their frogs while they were in the center, but after the first hop if the contestant touched the frog it was disqualified. A competitor also was disqualified if the frog did not move from the center of the circle within 15 seconds.
The grand champion flight included the 34 winners of the individual flights. Two of the contestants jumped 13 feet, 8 inches, resulting in a “jump off.”
However, the winner of this flight, Michayla Crumley, 8, of Chatham Township, was not named the grand champion because her “frog off” jump was not the farthest of the entire grand championship flights, causing confusion during the award ceremony.
In the end, Nicole Bryant, 13, of Granger Township, was named grand champion.
“I was shocked when they called my name,” she said after the award ceremony.
She named her frog Burnin’ Up after a Jonas Brothers song. This is the third year Bryant, a Highland High School student, has entered the contest. Bryant, who came with her parents and extended family, won two flights on Sunday, and has two other trophies from previous years.
Reserve champion was Chaz Yates, 3, of Grafton, who competed with his frog, Skid Steer. Yates competed with his sister, Kiersten, 6, a first-grader at Midview Elementary.
The award for shortest jump was given to Grace Taylor, 7, of Hamilton, Ohio, whose frog, Jumpee, jumped just one foot from the center of the parachute.
A day away from the pond