Huskies get ‘state of the art’ gear

Owatonna High School athletes at the new high school campus will benefit from one of the country’s finest weight rooms, after local company Life Fitness styled out its home school with some top-tier equipment.

According to Life Fitness Owatonna Plant Manager John Champa, the Huskies' weight room will feature the company’s HD Elite ID Combo Rack, which is set to be one of the most coveted weight racks in the country.

“The racks we inserted at the high school are our new state-of-the-art product. Our goal was for the school to have one of the nicest weight rooms in the state, if not the country,” said Champa.

However, the addition of the new weight racks came as somewhat of a surprise to one of the parties involved in the order.

According to Champa and Owatonna High School Director of Facilities, Infrastructure, and Security Bob Olson, the weight racks were not initially planned to be a part of the new high school’s itinerary – until Life Fitness made a surprise decision on the order list.

“I was looking at the paperwork and noticed that the elite racks were listed on our order. I called in and said that something must be wrong. That’s when I heard from John that Life Fitness was going to cover some of the cost to make sure their best products made it in the high school,” said Olson.

The decision to place the HD Elite ID Combo Racks into the facilities was not a cheap one, but more a sign of good faith by Life Fitness to ensure that the new high school is fit with even more top-of-the-line equipment.

“We covered the cost of implementation on good nature, which was around $70,000. We’re a local company and a lot of our employees are former alumni or have kids with ties to the school system. We can see how much this new high school means to the community and we think it’s important that they continue to have the best possible resources,” said Champa.

Each weight rack features the signature Owatonna royal blue and even displays logos and nameplates bearing the signature Huskies brand.

The racks themselves can be used for a multitude of purposes such as squats, bench press, pull-ups, ropes, resistance training, and much more.

“We’re very fortunate here in Owatonna to have so many people and businesses who flood us with support,” said Olson. “It’s really cool to see what we’re putting together here.”