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Equipment operator tired of 'bridesmaid'

Wednesday, June 22, 2005 10:53 AM EDT

EAU CLAIRE - The cherry takes center stage as cherry champ hopefuls head to the spit-off Saturday, July 2, at the 32nd annual International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship at Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm.

Five-time spit king, defending champ and world record holder Brian "Young Gun" Krause of Dimondale will defend his crown.

Krause set world records in 2003 with a spit of 110 feet, 4 inches, in the freestyle spit-off and 93 feet, 6 1/2 inches, in the more structured international competition.

In the 2004 competition, Krause spit 88 feet, 2 inches - enough to fend off a second-year challenge from Nick Cook, a heavy equipment operator from Evergreen Park, Ill., who spat 73 feet, 2 inches - but not enough to set a new record.

Cook is expected to be a big contender in this year's competition.

A relative newcomer to the sport, Cook has shown spit-acular consistency in form and distance.

His inaugural spit in 2003 flew 77 feet, 1 inch.

After the 2004 competition Cook noted, "I seem to always be a bridesmaid - but I intend to come back next year."

He said he had never spit pits before he read about the competition on the Internet, came to Tree-Mendus in 2003, bought a bucket of cherries and practiced before entering the competition.

Rick "Pellet Gun" Krause of Sanders, Ariz., father of "Young Gun" Krause, former world record-holder and 12-time international champion, will also return.

The elder Krause is the most winning spitter in the history of the sport.

He and his contemporaries are seeing the next generation of pit spitters eclipse their pace-setting accomplishments during the first 25 years of the sport.

Until 1998, the senior Krause held the world record for pit spitting within officially sanctioned rules, with a 1988 spit of 72 feet, 7 1/2 inches; 1999's spit was his second longest - 67 feet, 2 inches - and that year he took the belt back from his son, Brian.

In 1998, "Young Gun" handed his dad a double defeat by taking the championship and breaking his dad's longstanding world record with a spit of 72 feet, 11 inches.

In the women's competition, four-time winner Ann St. Amand of St. Joseph will defend her position. She took last year's competition with a spit of 46 feet, 1 inch, bettering her 2003 distance of 39 feet, 7 inches.

Qualifying youth contenders will disregard mom's orders and spit for fame and glory by age. Divisions are 9-12 year youth, 6- to 8-year-olds and 5 and under.

Eau Claire was recognized as "the Cherry Pit Spitting Capital of the World" in the July 2003 edition of Reader's Digest. The community takes a matter-of-fact - perhaps even phlegmatic - view of the international attention it garners annually as the nearby Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm hosts its International Cherry Pit Spit competition over the Fourth of July holiday.

This year marks 32 years of unbroken competition for the coveted crown, which brings celebrity spitters to town for a long weekend of puckering and pageantry, including Eau Claire's annual Cherry Festival.

Tree-Mendus is a family-oriented, agri-tourism destination. The farm features you-pick fruit, family recreation and a country store.

Tree-Mendus Fruit also features a Tree-Mendus Select line of processed products and gift packages and operates www.tree-mendus.com, an e-commerce Web site with secure-transaction shopping capabilities offering hard-to-find, old-time apple varieties and other farm products.

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