Barberton native Michelle Sutton has ‘99 TO BEAT’
PHOTOS PROVIDED
By RANDY FORST
BGNN sports editor
“99 to Beat” is a show on Fox where 100 people compete and are asked to complete “simple” games or tasks, and those finishing last are eliminated. Slowly but surely, 99 contestants fall by the wayside and the last one standing wins $1 million.
The show is hosted by Ken Jeong and Erin Andrews. On the Sept. 24 premier show, one of the contestants will be Barberton native Michelle Sutton.
A 1999 graduate of Barberton High, Sutton was an outstanding athlete during her high school days, playing both basketball and volleyball for the Lady Magics.
As a hooper, she had 21 games in double figures, including a 27-point game in her junior year, and currently ranks 41 on the All-Time Lady Magic scoring list.
After high school, Sutton received her bachelor’s degree from Akron University in Physical Education, her MA in Information Technology and Library Science and another MA in Educational Leadership. From college it was back to BHS where she taught physical education from 2002-2016. At BHS she also served as an assistant basketball and volleyball coach and was head volleyball coach for seven years.
How she got on “99 to Beat” was an interesting experience for Sutton. She was actually up for a different show. When she talked to the casting director, she was told that show was put on hold, but he thought she would be good for “99 to Beat.” She met with the producers and in a couple of days she was given a background check that was 14 pages long. After that it was off to London where they filmed the whole show in a three-week period. Her fellow contestants weren’t all random people either among them were “Big Brother” contestants, MTV challenge contestants, the Yellow Power Ranger, and a girl from “Pretty Little Liars.”
Michelle Sutton lost her mother, Ruth Sutton, to triple negative breast cancer in 2010. As a preventative measure, Michelle had a double mastectomy. She and Diane Weishaar opened up CrossFit 330, to not only honor her mother, but also to focus on building a community for “super moms” and busy professionals. As she puts it, “We wanted to create a third space for people to thrive in, and luckily our members and staff bought into the idea from the get-go and helped us build something special. In 2016, I left teaching to focus on the gym full time and I’ve been happier than ever!”
CrossFit has also been helpful in her recovery process from her surgery. While doctors were skeptical about how her body would respond, through CrossFit she now can do just about anything.
Sutton and Weishaar have been married for 11 years. CrossFit is in Wadsworth, but the couple still resides in the Magic City. When Sutton was asked how she did in the show, she said you’ll have to tune in to Fox on Sept. 24 at 9 p.m.
Being a Magic, there’s little doubt she’ll be successful.
