By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
ABILENE — Juan Rivera made his mark and won the state title.
The junior claimed the 123-pound weight class crown with a total of 1,155 pounds, including a 450 squat, 255 bench and a 450 deadlift, at the 2015 Texas High School Powerlifting Association state meet Saturday at the Taylor County Expo Center .
“It feels great,” Rivera said. “It was all the hard work this year. All of my max (lifts) went up and I ended up having a pretty good meet.”
He was third last year at state as a sophomore in his first year of powerlifting. Rivera wasn’t satisfied completely, though. He hopes to reach 500 in the squat, 300 in the bench, and 600 in deadlift next year.
“I want to do it again,” he said regarding a state championship. “And go further, try to break some records.”
Although none of his teammates claimed a title, it was still a very good day for the Los Fresnos boys squad.
Eddie Olvera (114), Eliseo Garzoria (165) and Aaron Zapata (198) finished in the top five and Fabian Rodriguez (181) was just one lift away of finishing there, too, but he had to settle for eighth as the Falcons’ team earned a fourth-place finish. They were tied with third-place Laredo United South and fifth-place Weslaco East with 17 points.
“I felt like we did very well. Some things didn’t go our way, but overall they really competed well,” Los Fresnos coach Mike Evans said. “They had some (personal-best lifts), so that all you can ask for. It was actually really close,we were a couple deadlifts away. If we get those we probably win the meet, that’s how close the meet was.”
Evans said Rodriguez and Garzoria went for heavier deadlifts to raise their totals, but each just missed.
Olvera finished with 985 pounds (370-215-400). Zapata was third at 1,530 (630-320-580). Garzoria was fourth at 1,335 (500-255-580) and Rodriguez was eighth at 1,430 (550-330-550).
The Falcons’ coach was pleased with the effort of his squad.
“That’s how it is every year,” he said. “At girls state we got those lifts, and at boys state we didn’t. That’s really the only difference. But they did well and I’m happy.”
Lopez had two powerlifters finish in the top five and another in seventh. Danny Diaz (132) was fourth (490-275-455—1,220), Alex Berrones (114) was fifth (320-190-395—905) and Rogelio Pulido (148) was seventh (630-320-580—1,275).
“They came out and did excellent,” Lopez coach Hugo Ramirez said. “Hopefully next year we can bring more kids, and the kids that gained the experience will be back and do a lot better. We’ll take the medals and next year we’ll be a lot stronger, but that experience is going to pay off.”
Eric Tong of Hanna (148) was sixth (520-235-525—1,280). He finished just five pounds better than the Lobos’ Pulido.
Jimmy DeLeon of Brownsville Veterans Memorial was seventh in the super heavyweight division (725-365-550—1,640) and teammate Jesse Guzman (275) was 19th (635-365-560—1,560). Erick Vasquez (198) was unable to compete after finding out earlier in the week he has two herniated disks. He is expected to have surgery to fix the issue.
“The competition was really stiff,” Brownsville Veterans coach Gilbert Myers said. “Both of them did respectful. To get up here and do their best, especially with what they’ve been through. I’m really proud of them, but we’ll use this as a learning experience for next year.”
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.