By Joey Villarreal.
In a display of strength and determination, girls powerlifting ends their season by leaving a lasting impression at regionals and state on March 16.
Taking the top podium at regionals, senior Arabella Campo in first, senior Liliana Gonzalez in second, and Chantelle Wahome in third. Overall, 12 girls qualified and competed at state.
“Overall, I’d say I had a really good season,” Campo said. “I hit new PRs (personal records) that freshman me couldn’t even think she could do.”
Campo lifted 180 pounds on squat, 90 pounds on bench, and 225 pounds on deadlift. She placed 10th at state.
“I had some setbacks with some injuries this year,” Campo said. “Overcoming them just came with practice and getting back into routine.”
Along with Campo, Wahome placed 11th out of 16 people at state and squatted over 300 pounds at the meet.
“It went really well,” Wahome said. “I did all that I wanted to do and even a little bit more.”
Chantelle lifted an overall of 780 pounds with a bench of 170 pounds, squat of 305 pounds, and deadlift of 350 pounds.
“My training routine was whatever workouts my coach gave me,” Wahome said. “So, if he switched it up I would switch it up.”
The girls trained every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, before school and followed the workouts coach Travis Kern assigned them.
“I think my only setback was not having enough time,” junior state qualifier Amaya Williams said. “Usually powerlifting is first period but with cheer and everything I didn’t have enough time to go first period, so I talked with Coach Kern and started lifting at 7 a.m. every morning before school.
Williams lifted 110 pounds on bench, 230 pounds on squat, and 270 pounds on deadlift at state.
“Overall, my season went really well, each meet just got better and better,” Williams said. “My greatest accomplishments were being able to push myself and get better every time”
