By CONSTANCIO MARTINEZ, JR.
Special to the PRESS
This past week, on February 15-16, the Port Isabel Powerlifting teams competed at the 2024 Powerlifting Qualifiers in Weslaco (boys) and La Feria (girls).
The boy’s division saw 48 lifters compete from the following five schools, Port Isabel, Edinburg North, Weslaco, PSJA and Donna North. The Port Isabel boys team came away with five gold medals which helped them secure 2nd place with 44 team points. The other top three finishers were 1st place Edinburg North with 49 points and 3rd place Weslaco with 25 points.
PI’s Vicente Azuara who competes in the 123lb weight class secured his second gold medal of the season with a total lift of 1055 pounds. His three lifts consisted of Squat:430, Bench:230, and Dead Lift:395, setting personal bests in the squat and bench lifts. Azuara who had “Bombed Out” the las few meets, returned with a good showing at the qualifier, retaining his no.1 regional ranking.
Others earning a gold medal were: (181lb) Jose Galvan (Squat: 495, Bench:280, Dead Lift:440, Total Lift:1215), (198lb) Jesus Contreras (Squat: 550, Bench:285, Dead Lift:470, Total Lift:1305), (220lb) Zeke Palestina (Squat: 645, Bench:355, Dead Lift:535, Total Lift:1535) and (275lb) Luis Varela (Squat: 585, Bench:390, Dead Lift:525, Total Lift:1500).
Other competitors: (165lb) Giovanni Gonzalez (Place: 2nd, Squat: 495, Bench:280, Dead Lift:440, Total Lift:1125), (242lb) Carlos Cabrera (Place: 3rd, Squat: 495, Bench:280, Dead Lift:440, Total Lift:1520), (198lb) Joe Perez (Place: 5th, Squat: 455, Bench:255, Dead Lift:480, Total Lift:1190), (220lb) Arnulfo Hernandez (Place: 6th, Squat: 470, Bench:225, Dead Lift:465, Total Lift:1160), (220lb) and Oreb Antonio (Place: 9th, Squat: 345, Bench:165, Dead Lift:380, Total Lift:890).
This week’s Top Improvement awards goes to Cabrera who improved his total weight lifted by 110lbs and Varela who improved by 100lbs.
Meanwhile, the girl’s division saw 86 lifters compete from the following seven schools, Port Isabel, Hidalgo, La Feria, Lyford, Rio Hondo, Santa Maria and Zapata. The top three schools were La Feria (50pts), Santa Maria (30pts), and Rio Hondo (29pts). Port Isabel finished in sixth place with 23 team points.
Port Isabel’s (242lb) Iyairy Guzman captured her first gold medal of the season as she finished with a total lift of 735lbs (Squat:300, Bench:135, Dead Lift:300).
Others competing were: (132) Esmeralda Montoya (Place: 2nd, Squat: 310, Bench:135, Dead Lift:295, Total Lift:740), (181) Saturn Trejo (Place: 2nd, Squat: 370, Bench:170, Dead Lift:260, Total Lift:800), (105) Stacey Suarez (Place: 3rd, Squat: 280, Bench:125, Dead Lift:225, Total Lift:630), (220) Emma Villarreal (Place: 3rd, Squat: 325, Bench:145, Dead Lift:145, Total Lift:755), (148) Daniela Alonso (Place: 6th, Squat: 330, Bench:130, Dead Lift:235, Total Lift:695), and Nataly Ramirez (Place: 8th, Squat: 260, Bench:110, Dead Lift:245, Total Lift:615).
This week’s Top Improvement award goes to Guzman who improved her total lift by 45 pounds, she has move up to no. 14 in the regional rankings.
The boy’s powerlifting team will have one more week to qualify for regionals on Saturday (Feb. 24) as they compete in the Noah LeBlanc Memorial powerlifting meet held at PIECHS. The girl’s powerlifting team will compete at the Regional Meet held on February 26-27 at the Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg, TX.
Team placement was based on the summation of the school’s combined individual awarded points. Individual placement was based on the summation of the following three lifts: 1. Squat, 2. Bench Press, and 3. Deadlift which results in a Total Lift amount.
Athletes are awarded points as follows 7, 5, 3, 2, or 1 for finishing as one of the first five finishers in each weight class. “Bombed Out” means a lifter has failed to complete a lift in any of the required lifts, therefore, given a score of zero.
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