By CONSTANCIO MARTINEZ, JR.
Special to the PRESS
This past Friday, January 16 the Port Isabel ECHS powerlifting teams competed in the Brownsville Rivera Raiders Invitational meet. With the second powerlifting meet now in the books, the PIECHS program continues to show steady improvement while adding more medals to their collection.
In the girl’s division, which included 56 lifters, PIECHS stood out as the lone small school, competing against much larger programs such as Harlingen, Harlingen South, Brownsville Rivera, Brownsville Porter and San Benito.
Port Isabel’s returning state champion, Saturn Trejo, competed for the first time this season and picked up where she left off as she won gold in the 165-weight class with a total lift of 915 pounds. Trejo is currently ranked #4 in the region for her class.
In the 105-wt class, Emily Orduna secured her second silver medal in as many meets with a total lift of 590lbs. Meanwhile, Natalissa Arrambul finished in 4th place with a total lift of 475lbs.
In the 123-wt class, Maria Ale Vasquez won silver with a total lift of 790lbs while Isabella Bentancourt came away with the bronze medal with a total lift of 580lbs. Vasquez who improved her total lift by 70lbs compared to her previous total lift, is currently ranked #4 in the region.
In the 148-wt class, Daniela Alonso won silver with a total lift of 775lbs and improved her total weight by an impressive 85lbs. She is currently ranked #7 in the region.
In the 181-wt class, Brigette Montes won silver with a total lift of 715lbs, while Dariadna Garcia won bronze in her debut with a total lift of 660lbs.
Finally, in the 242+ class, Iyary Guzman won bronze with a total lift of 850lbs and currently holds the #3 ranking in the region.
Port Isabel secured a 3rd place finish in the girls’ team standings with 38 points scored, just one point shy of second place Harlingen South. San Benito was the grand champion with 54 points.
Although PI had a small contingent of boy lifters, they still managed to secure a 5th place finish among the nine competing programs.
Port Isabel boys captured two gold medals as Arnold Lopez won the 123-wt class championship and Eric Gonzalez captured title in the 181-wt class.
Other PI lifting results included, Joe Perez (3rd, 198-wt class), Ivan Gomez (4th, 165-wt class), and Michael Finona (4th, 198-wt class).
Today (Jan. 22) the PIECHS will be hosting the “Noah LeBlanc Memorial Girls Invitational” at the main gym with a 10am weigh-in. Meanwhile, the boys will be back in action on Friday, January 30 at the Brownsville IDEA-Riverview “Meet of Champions 2026” meet to be held at the Brownsville Sports Park Dome (6am weigh-in).
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