An old friend has made its way back to Ironton.

The NFL Punt, Pass and Kick Competition was hosted by the Ironton Recreation Department on Wednesday, Oct. 5. It was the first time in 15 years that this competition has been held in Ironton.

The competition is nationally sponsored by the NFL and Pepsi with winners able to advance to team competitions in NFL cities.

The competition is for boys and girls from the ages of 8 through 15 years. Each participant gets one opportunity to punt, pass and kick a football for distance as well as accuracy. The winner is decided by adding the distances of each attempt.

Fifty-four participants registered in the Ironton event. This turnout was more than expected due to the short time between receiving authorization and the deadline to host the event.

Congratulations go out to the winners of each age group. Here are the winners in each of the divisions:

Girls, 10-11 year olds Ariel Schweickart, girls, 12-13 year olds Alex Taylor, boys 8-9 year olds, Zach Russell, boys 10-11 year olds, Justin Mahlmeister, boys 12-13 year olds, Tanner Riley, and boys 14-15 year olds, Geoffrey White. Each winner had the opportunity to compete in the sectional competition at Piketon High School this past Sunday.

I would like to commend all the participants for their efforts and hope everyone comes back to compete next year.

I'd also like to thank several volunteers who helped make this event a success:

Kathy Kratzenberg, Joe Holtzapfel, Turke Donahue, B.J. Hannon, Dean McDonald, as well as Mike, Jim and Patrick Mahlmeister. I also wish to thank Ironton High School's Terry Parker and Dave Lawless for the use of the facilities.

Jimmy Mahlmeister is the recreation director for the city of Ironton.