By David Kirvin.
To start out the new season, the boys’ and girls’ powerlifting teams had their first meet on Jan. 13 at Mann Middle School. The team will compete again at Cooper High School on Jan. 26.
The practice meets will help the team fine-tune in order to be ready for the district meet that will take place March 1 in Big Spring.
“We have two different training regimens,” senior Arabella Campo said. Sometimes we do three times a week or two times a week depending on if we have a break for school, or if we have a meet on a certain day that we train.
Practice meets are a great way for the team to see their progress, review and to see what they can do to get better before the district meet.
“The first meet is always a meet that helps you get back into things, so I won’t lift very heavy on the first one but just enough to get a good placement in the region,” senior Chantelle Wahome said.
Campo has personal goals and sets a mental boundary for herself to always be beneficial to keep herself focused, motivated and successful.
“One of my goals is to always make it to regionals and state, but this year I have a few more specific ones,” Campo said. “I’m trying to hit a 515 total with 200 on squat, 90 on bench and 225 on deadlift.”
Senior Deaija Collins believes that mental health is important, it’s a vital part of her life and impacts her thoughts, behaviors and emotions being able to keep her healthy emotionally.
“Mentally I need to improve because when things get hard, I get upset and get inside my head even more,” Collins said.
Freshman Summer Handley believes that sometimes it can be hard to always stay focused mentally, she is always about disciplining yourself to reach her end goal.
“I try to stay focused because sometimes at some of the meets I get nervous, but I just need to focus on what’s important, what I’m doing at the moment and don’t think about anything else,” Handley said.
At the meets, students perform in front of judges, other teams and bleachers full of Eagle fans.
“I got really nervous on my first meet because there’s a lot of adrenaline going through my head, stress, making sure I do amazing, a lot of people watching and everything little thing I think about,” Handley said.
The team has a routine that gives an opportunity for everyone to improve and show their skills.
“We split into two groups,” Handley said. “The early morning group goes to this meet and the people that are in the class period went to the first meet and we just alternate and switch between the two groups.”
