The Marines are looking for a “few good men,” but last week they were looking for a few good pull-ups from Plains High School students.

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Michael Weiss and Staff Sgt. Neal Yazzie visited the school last Tuesday to put on the “Pull-up Challenge” to any high school boy or girl, though a few elementary kids offered to give it a try.

More than 40 students gathered in the lobby next to the gymnasium; a few took up the challenge, but most were on hand to volunteer others or to provide moral support. Sophomore Dillon Fryxell pumped out the most pull-ups at 22, winning a Marine Corps T-shirt, the prize for doing 20 or more.

For the boys, doing between 17-19 fetched a watch cap; 13-16, a water bottle; 9-12, a lanyard; and 3-8, a poster. Like women in the Marine Corps, girls didn’t have to do pull-ups, but rather perform a “hang” for a specific amount of time, ranging from 15-29 seconds for the poster, to more than 70 seconds for the T-shirt. However, both girls who participated — Rio Crismore and Jessica Read — decided to do the pull-ups. Crismore, a sophomore, got five and Read, a freshman, had eight, out-doing a couple of the boys.

Junior Thad LeClair was the first student to step up to the bar, knocking out 15 in less than a minute. He tried later, but could do only nine the second time. Freshman Nick Warren also went two times, first getting seven, then nine.

Nearly a dozen students took to the pull-up bar. Senior Adam Lilja pulled out 19. The third highest was freshman Kenneth Beech, who muscled out 18. Among the students was Thomas Tasakos, a senior who leaves for Marine Corps basic training in San Diego in June. Tasakos got 10 pull-ups. Dustin Emmett, a Marine lance corporal home on leave from Marine Corps Base 29 Palms, reached 20 pull-ups. Emmett returned from duty in Iraq in April.

Yazzie is a recruiter assigned to Marine Corps Recruiting Station Missoula. Weiss, who is preparing to retire, is the northwest Montana noncommissioned officer-in-charge. Weiss said that the Pull-up Challenge is a way of promoting physical fitness, get exposure for the Marine Corps and it is a recruiting tool. He said there were several students who he felt would make excellent Marines. Their office has recruited four graduates from Plains in the last 18 months, he said.

Yazzie said they’ve visited high schools in Plains, Thompson Falls, and Noxon, but have not gone to Hot Springs yet.