Edcouch-Elsa boys powerlifting program defends state championship
BY BRYAN RAMOS | STAFF WRITER
EDCOUCH — After the Edcouch-Elsa Yellow Jackets boys powerlifting program won the state championship a season ago, coach Martin Marichalar began searching for a way to motivate this year’s group.
How exactly do you follow up winning a state title?
Marichalar began using the mantra, “It’s not what Edcouch-Elsa can do for you, it’s what can we do for Edcouch-Elsa.”
The 2019 boys powerlifting team heard his words and responded by bringing back a second consecutive state championship after winning the Texas High School Powerlifting Association Div. I title at the boys state meet in Abilene last weekend, putting Edcouch-Elsa’s name in the history books once again.
“That has really gotten these kids to another level, and they fought the whole season and the result is another state championship,” Marichalar said. “We got to work hard. The commitment and determination has to be through the roof, and from Day One it has been there. These kids, they love to work. Their work ethic is tremendous.”
The Yellow Jackets brought home first place as a team with two athletes winning individual gold and another winning silver, giving Edcouch-Elsa a total of 19 points, seven more than the next-closest team.
Junior Ricky Ortiz, a 148-pounder, won the state title for the second year in a row and set two state records in the process. Ortiz’s total of 1,535 pounds and 400-pound bench press put his name in the history books in two categories.
“We knew from the beginning of the season that the possibility of repeating as state champs was very high. We knew we had it as a team. That was the main focus throughout the entire season,” Ortiz said. “That’s the focus of every team that competes in powerlifting, but we knew that we did it once, we can do it again, especially with the team we had this year.”
Senior Cody Alvarado nearly won gold as a junior before ultimately finishing in second place at state. This year, Alvarado finished second at regionals, finishing just behind Weslaco East’s Jacob Banda in the 242-pound weight class. He wasn’t discouraged by his second-place finishes, however. The result was winning the gold medal and tying a state record with 1,880 total pounds.
“Last year, I failed to get first. It was in my hands and I lost it, but it meant a lot for me to come in this year and get first,” Alvarado said. “I always tell myself every time I fail, it’s a minor setback for a major comeback and it showed at the end.”
Yellow Jackets senior Nate Vallejo showed the greatest improvement from last year’s state meet, where he finished in 13th place — eight spots out of a medal. Vallejo improved every number in each of the three lifts — bench, squat and dead lift — to launch himself to a second-place finish, earning a silver medal in the 220-pound weight class with a total of 1,635.
“I was working hard every day because before I graduated I wanted to be top 5. I was pushing myself. It gives me a lot of pride since we’re the first team to go back-to-back in the Valley,” Vallejo said.
The Yellow Jackets are hungry for more hardware, on top of their back-to-back state crowns, and will return nine members from this year’s state title team.
GOLD MEDAL WINNERS
La Joya Palmview’s Juan Rivas brought back the first state title in Lobos boys powerlifting as he won gold in the 275-pound weight class. Rivas put up 1,825 total pounds and shattered his personal squat record with a 780-pound lift.
Weslaco East’s 181-pounder Imanol Ordonez blew the competition away as his 1,625 total was 105 pounds more than the second-place finisher in his class, giving Ordonez a gold medal.
Edinburg Economedes’ Enoch Solis won in the 114-pound weight class with 1,125 total pounds. Fellow Jaguars teammate Jose Soto took home silver in the 123-pound weight class with a total of 1,125.
Edinburg IDEA College Prep took home second place as a team at the Div. III state meet as gold medalist Joey Rodriguez won the title in the 114-pound weight class, with Andrew Nevarez taking silver in the 165-pound weight class.