Beads of sweat were forming on the brow of Helen Lehman Elementary School second-grader Brandon Corrall.

Despite owning a mean sprint, Brandon said his favorite part of P.E. is stretching.

"It actually feels really good," he said.

All of Lehman's students are feeling pretty good these days.

With its dedication to physical fitness and healthy living, the west Santa Rosa campus was tops in the six-county North Coast region of the Governor's Challenge. The win earned the school $6,000 for physical education equipment and school supplies and a shot at this year's top prize: a $100,000 fitness center.

"Everything is really driven with physical fitness," Principal Beverly Jones said. "We are constantly talking about physical fitness and nutrition with regard to students' academic and lifetime training."

To that end, junk food and sodas are forbidden at the Jennings Avenue campus, and after-school parent and student events typically have a nutrition or exercise component.

"I think they are doing good by reaching out to the parents and offering them not just an 'eat healthy' message but education and examples and resources. That is encouraging to parents," said Erica Wold-Barney, who has two children at Lehman.

Sonoma County public school students are in better shape than they were five years ago, but most still fail in at least one fitness category, according to the state Department of Education.

In the third annual Governor's Challenge, a nonprofit, nonpartisan event that promotes physical activity for children, students were asked to be physically active 30 minutes a day, three days a week for four weeks. The entire student body must participate.

Lehman students went above and beyond the requirements, exercising every day of that stretch.

Lehman linked its fitness push with the administration of the state's Standardized Testing and Reporting, or STAR, tests in the spring so kids could concentrate on academics in the morning and release stress in the afternoon, Jones said.

Teachers at Lehman say kids are better able to concentrate after they sweat off a case of the wiggles on the blacktop or ball fields. Lehman's Academic Performance Index has risen from 650 in 2004 to 763 in 2007.

"I'm telling you, P.E. is the best thing for these kids," said first-grade teacher Rosie Muldoon. "It's wonderful for those kids who really need to be physical."

With childhood obesity on the rise, the goal of the Governor's Challenge is for students to find exercise opportunities in everyday activities such as walking the dog or riding a bike to the store.

"The elite athlete is always going to be active, and that's great, but we need to get to the people who are on the fence," said Kenny Rogers, executive director of the Governor's Challenge. "To dictate that you need to do sit-ups or pull-ups or whatever it is doesn't really get to the idea that fitness is fun, being active is fun."

You can reach Staff Writer Kerry Benefield at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com.