By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Lopez was able to add another state title to its trophy case.
The Lobos’ Jose Alvarado won a state boys powerlifting title in the 132-pound weight class with a total weight of 1,225 pounds, easily out lifting the second place finisher by 105 pounds at the 2016 Texas High School Powerlifting Association state meet Saturday at the Taylor County Expo Center in Abilene.
Alvarado jumped out to a lead with a squat of 500, and followed that up with a bench of 275 and a deadlift of 450 to seal the title.
Alvarado joins Julianna Delgado, who won a girls state title in the 220 class a few weeks ago.
“He had a great day (Saturday), he was on fire,” Lopez coach Hugo Ramirez said. “He was able to get first place and get a state championship.”
The Lobos, who won a regional title, finished fourth as a team at the state meet with three of their competitors finishing in the top five. Hugo Salas was third in 148, Rogelio Pulido was fourth in 165 and Danny Ramos was fifth in 198.
Salas finished with a total of 1,350 — 555 squat, 285 bench and a 510 deadlift. Pulido had 1,475 (565, 310, 600) and Ramos finished with 1,565 (615, 375, 575).
“We had two of our guys bomb out, that’s really hard to come back from, but we were in the run for (a state title) until the very end,” Ramirez said. “I’m very proud of the kids.”
Los Fresnos earned two top five finishes, Eliseo Garzoria (165) — 1,480 (575, 275, 630) was third and JJ Ortiz (123) — 1,085 (405, 255, 425) was fifth.
Hanna had a fourth place finish with Eric Tong (148) — 1,350 (520, 270, 560) who missed his top weight in the squat. Port Isabel also had a fourth place finisher, John Ray Martinez (198) — 1,520 (600, 365, 555), who improved his total 120 pounds from the regional meet, including a personal best in the squat.
Brownsville Veterans Memorial’s Brandon Martinez (181) finished sixth and set a PR for his squat by 25 pounds and a pair from Lopez finished seventh, Leo Alaniz (114) and Josh Trevino (super heavy weight).
Los Fresnos’ Freddy Martinez (242) was eighth and Arturo Mancias of Hanna (165) was ninth. Brownsville Veterans’ Joel Sanchez (123), Hanna’s Ramon Delgado (181) and Alexis Olalde of Lopez (198) each finished 10th.
Hanna’s Rafa Pena (220) was 15th and a trio of teammates finished 16th, Leo Gonzalez (220), Nathan Silva (198) and Andre Gonzalez (275), and two competitors finished 18th, Pace’s Yayo Segura (148) and Hanna’s Ricky Arreola (220).
Unfortunately, some competitors struggled as well and bombed out, including Lopez’s Alex Berrones and Danny Diaz; Misael Marquez and Pablo Garza of Pace and Fabian Rodriguez of Los Fresnos.
Lopez didn’t finish as high as they wanted, but it is motivated to do even better next year.
“We’re taking steps in the right direction,” Ramirez said. “We went from winning city championships to a regional champs … we’ll be back, stronger than ever. Hopefully next year we’ll get the job done, finish what we started.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.