Former Track and basketball standout tries new sport
ISHPEMING -- It's fun to watch how athletes evolve over the years from one sport to another. Here's an example on how a Western Marquette County athlete has changed sports.
Republic-Michigamme's Dana Skytta played basketball and ran track for the Hawks, graduating in 2004. From there he concentrated on track at Lake Superior State, placing in GLIAC meets in the high jump, javelin and discus, and at times competing in the decathlon.
Skytta has switched gears again--he's getting ready for the U.P. Strongman Competition, August 6, in Crystal Falls.
He's one of those people who can't sit still, and he likes challenges.
"I needed something to be competitive," said Skytta. "I started training again, and I was standing here, and I was wondering, why, why was I training? And I saw...there was either the Negaunee Triathlon or the Crystal Falls Strongman. The dynamic of between being an athlete in track and field and the dynamic of being a strongman is very similar because the movements are similar, except for the jumping. There's no jumping in strongman."
Skytta surprised many people, including himself, when he won the Motor City Strongest Man in Detroit in April after four months of training. He qualified for the nationals, which will take place in November in Mississippi.
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