Kevin Bartz, International Cherry Pit-Spitting Championship at Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm in Eau Claire Saturday. (Leader photo/File)

On Saturday, fireworks weren’t the only things flying through the air.

At Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm in Eau Claire, cherry pits went soaring into the summer wind at the 42nd Annual International Cherry Pit-Spitting Championship.

Ninety new pit-spitters and a handful of returning champions arrived at the farm on Saturday to uphold a tradition that started innocently and whimsically back in 1972.

“The farmers out in the orchard were spitting pits, laughing about how far they could spit it,” said Pit Spit coordinator Nancy Tipton. “They started doing it more and more for fun. One thing led to another, and they found out that it’s also done in other countries.”

After meeting with representatives from those countries, Tipton said, rules were established and the International Cherry Pit-Spitting Championship was born.

In the past, the event has attracted hundreds of competitors from the United States, Austria, Germany, China and more, however this year attracted only one international competitor from Canada, as general attendance was down due to the holiday.

Even though the attendance was a bit smaller, the competition was as big as ever.

Out of 90 competitors, 35 qualified for the final rounds. There were five competitors in each of the three age-separated youth groups, and there were 10 competitors each in the men’s and women’s groups. The top 10 spitters of both the men and women are then placed into the championship round, where one champion is crowned.

This year’s champion was Kevin Bartz, Niles resident and Edwardsburg High School football coach.

“I’ve been taking my family up there for seven years,” Bartz said. “My kids have been spitting also … I’ve battled against the Krause family all those years, and I finally managed to beat them.”

Members of the Krause family have consistently won the competition in the past, winning all but two of the past 15 championships. Brian “Young Gun” Krause, of Lansing, was the only Krause at the competition Saturday.

He also happens to be the “Guinness Book of World Records” title holder in pit-spitting, with a spit of more than 93 feet in 2003.

“I was very excited about beating Brian Krause,” Bartz said. “Unfortunately for Brian, he smashed his second pit trying to clean it, so he only got to spit one pit.”

Bartz said that cleaning the pit, as Krause was trying to do, is one of the secrets for great distance when spitting.

“You have a minute to clean the pit,” Bartz said. “So you want to get all the meat off of it. Then, you use your teeth to work the edges off of the pit so it rolls better.”

Bartz said that he and his family practice spitting in their driveway about a week before the competition.

“We’ll be back again next year,” he said.

While Bartz was the overall champion, he did not actually have the longest spit of the day. That went to Megan Ankrapp, 15, of Buchanan, with a 49 foot, 1/4 inch spit — beating Bartz by a full 4 1/4 inches.

Unfortunately, because Ankrapp’s qualifying round spit was only 30 feet, 2 inches, she did not make it to the championship round.

She was, however, the women’s division champion.

“Her mother was here volunteering and helping out,” Tipton said. “We needed someone to sweep pits for the qualifying rounds.”

Tipton said that when Ankrapp decided to spit one (her first time ever doing so), she spit far enough to qualify.

“We told her to fill out a qualifying card,” Tipton said.

Tipton said that although Ankrapp did not win the championship, she has an extremely promising future ahead of her.

“She could be the first woman to take champion,” Tipton said, excitedly. “That’s never been done here before. We had a young girl from California spit with the champions a few years ago, and she had them beat until the last spit.”

Every winner from the day received a prize box filled with items donated by area businesses and a medal. The overall champion receives a prize box worth around $900, a medal and a plaque.

“This is our number one event,” Tipton said. “It’s held the first Saturday of July each year.”

Bartz won overall with a spit distance of 48 feet, 8 inches.

Brian “Young Gun” Krause, of Lansing, took second place with a spit of 48 feet. Third place went to Jack Shea, of Bloomington, Ind.

The Youth 9-12 division winner was Zach Bartz (son of Kevin), of Niles, with a spit distance of 25 feet, 4 1/2 inches.

The Youth 6-8 division winner was Joshua Hester, of Coloma, with a spit distance of 22 feet, 2 1/2 inches, and the Youth 5 and under winner was Hope Hester, of Coloma, with a spit distance of 9 feet, 7 inches.