Jordan Fontanilla and Natalie Griffin stood a little taller than their peers on Saturday afternoon.

The Sierra High students ascended to the top of the finisher’s podium following the school’s inaugural Fittest on Campus competition.

The event was modeled after the CrossFit Games and CrossFit Kids Teen Gauntlet. It was spurred on by the campus’ participation in the ever-popular training program.

Sierra began a CrossFit program in 2008, under the direction of P.E. Department chair Richard Boyd and teacher Nick Hobby.

Hobby also owns CrossFit Excel in Manteca.

“The kids did an outstanding job taking what they have learned  in Sierra High’s body conditioning classes and applying it in a competitive setting,” Boyd said.

Saturday’s Fittest on Campus competition tested the athletes in 10 fitness domains: cardiovascular and respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance and accuracy.

For months now, Fontanilla and Griffin have been the P.E. Department’s gold-standard.

Their victories on Saturday validated their performances at January’s CrossFit  Kids Teen Gauntlet, an international event hosted in 13 cities. Fontanilla and Griffin arrived in Sacramento that day as the Manteca Unified School District’s lone representatives and each finished second in the varsity division.

The fields weren’t nearly as deep on Saturday.

Fontanilla emerged from a group of 11, finishing ahead of runner-up Kyle Alexander and Hunter Wheeler in bronze position.

Fontanilla’s consistency in the first four workouts (WOD) earned him one of three berths in the championship round. There, he put together a winning performance, totaling 194 reps in 10 minutes.

The final workout consisted of as many as rounds as possible of 40 kettle bell swings — boys swung 53-pound weights, while the girls used 35-pound weights — 30 burpees, 20 knees to elbows and pull-ups (10 for the boys, five for the girls).

Griffin left no doubt as to who Sierra’s fittest girl is, winning four of the six individual events including the championship round.

She tied Amelia Teicheira for the heaviest two-rep bench press at 105 pounds, swam 21 laps, put together the heaviest Bear Complex (65 pounds), and totaled 135 reps in the final WOD.

Griffin was joined on the podium by runner-up Alexis Young and Teicheira.

Young posted the girls’ fastest time in the mile with a 6-minute, 43-second finish, and later clocked a 13:03 to win WOD No. 4. The workout consisted of two 100-meter kettle bell farmer’s carries, a 100-meter sprint, two 50-meter sled pushes, two 50-meter bear crawls, and a 400-meter medicine ball run.

Kayla Wilson (fourth), Claudia Hunter (fifth) and Annisty Miller (sixth) rounded out the girls’ leaderboard.

Alexander won two boys’ individual events: heaviest Bear Complex, a single-rep combination of a power clean, front squat, push press, back squat and push press; and WOD No. 4.

Other event winners included: Nick Calonico, who swam 23 laps in a 12-minute period; Marc Evans, who won the mile in 5 minutes, 36 seconds; and Aaron Thiel, who bench-pressed 290 pounds twice.

Boyd gave special thanks to the event’s sponsors: the Sierra High athletic department; Activities Director Anthony Chapman; Chillaberries; CrossFit Excel; Alpha Omega CrossFit; and the volunteer judges and other helpers.

“Coach Nick Hobby, coach Julie Cannon and myself are very proud of these young athletes,” Boyd said, “and hope they apply this towards a life-long love of fitness and healthy living.”