By CONSTANCIO MARTINEZ, JR.
Special to the PRESS
This past Saturday, February 24, Port Isabel Early College High School hosted the Noah LeBlanc Memorial Boys Powerlifting Regional Qualifier. In the final qualifier of the season, the Port Isabel boys’ team continued to rack up the gold medals as they came away with four first-place finishes.
The qualifier saw 63 lifters compete in the powerlifting meet, with Port Isabel earning the top spot with 50 team points, Lyford (36pts) and Santa Rosa (24pts) rounded out the other top three spots. Brownsville St. Joe, Donna, Monte Alto, and Raymondville were other schools competing.
Port Isabel’s powerful duo of Arnold Lopez (114lb) and Vicente Azuara (123lb) earned their 5th and 3rd gold medals, respectively. Lopez had a total lift of 925 pounds, while Azuara had a total lift of 1070 pounds (a new personal record). Others earning gold were 181lb Aaron Barrera (Total Lift:1435) and 275lb Luis Varela (Total Lift:1440)
Other medalists were 165lb Giovanni (2nd, TL:1105), 181lb Jose Galvan (2nd, TL:1225), 220lb Zeke Palestina (2nd, TL:1550), 242lb Mario Nava (2nd, TL:1550), 148lb Joshua Chapa (3rd, TL:645), and 242lb Carlos Cabrera (3rd, TL:1510).
This week’s most improved lifter recognition goes to Oreb Antonio, who improved his total lift by 200, going from 890 to 1110 pounds in back-to-back meets.
For finishing in the Top 12 of the Region in their respective class, the following boys qualified for the Region 5 DII Regional Meet: Arnold Lopez, Vicente Azuara, Aaron, Barrera, Noah Hernandez, Jose Galvan, Zeke Palestina, Mario Nava and Carlos Cabrera. The meet will commence at the JK Northway Coliseum in Kingsville, TX, on Friday, March 8.
The girls who qualified for Regionals were 105 class Stacey Suarez, 132 class Esmeralda Montoya, 148 class Natalie Martinez, 148 class Daniela Alonso, 181 class Saturn Trejo, 220 class Emma Villarreal, and 242+ class Iyairy Guzman. Alternates were 132 class Samantha Schrank and 165 class Nataly Ramirez.
Team placement relied on the summation of the school’s combined individual awarded points. Individual placement relied on the summation of the following three lifts: 1. Squat, 2. Bench Press, and 3. Deadlift, which results in a Total Lift amount. Athletes were awarded points as follows: 7, 5, 3, 2, or 1 for finishing as one of the first five finishers in each weight class.
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