STAFF REPORTS
Pace senior Sarah Moraida finished second in the 105-pound weight division in Class 5A at the 2015 Texas High School Women’s Powerlifting Association state meet Friday at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi .
Moraida finished with a total weight of 740 pounds (290 squat , 135 bench, 315 deadlift) and just missed the top spot by the difference in the squat.
“It came down to 20 pounds, that was the difference,” Pace coach Joe Espanoza said. “She gave it her all. She’s happy, very happy, and was very emotional when she got her medal. Her goal was to be top three in the state, so she made it, she did it.”
Teammates Vanessa Rivera and Jackie Cano also competed in the 165 division. Rivera finished 12th at 790 (335-135-320) and Cano finished 15th at 770 (300-155-315).
Espanoza was proud of their accomplishments, though he knows the pair didn’t finish as high as they expected.
“They did awesome,” he said. “It’s a big accomplishment just to come to state just like any other sport. Even though we didn’t get where we wanted to be, we had a lot of personal-best lifts out there. We go against ourselves, and our totals have been going up every week.”
Port Isabel junior Jocelyn Padilla finished fourth in the 220 division for Class 4A.
Padilla finished at 890 (385-155-350). Her goal was to finish in the top three, and she just missed it when she bounced her highest deadlift, meaning it wasn’t counted among the scores.
She received a medal for finishing in the top five and is ready for next year.
“The competition was real tough, but she never let down,” Port Isabel coach Joe Gonzalez said. “She said to me, ‘I can do better next year.’ But it’s a great accomplishment in her first year in powerlifting and she’s already talking about next year.
“I’m proud of her and her accomplishments and she did great.”
The Porter girls powerlifting team was represented by seniors Natasha Lopez and Mary Ann Gonzalez.
Lopez began the competition by matching her 300-pound squat from the regional competition. She then bench-pressed 135 pounds, which was less than Porter coachTito Mata would have liked. However, Lopez rebounded and lifted 320 pounds in the deadlift, setting her own personal record and totaling 755 pounds.
“We’re happy,” Porter coach Tito Mata said. “It was (Lopez’s) last attempt as a high school lifter, and I was going to let her lift what she wanted, and she said, ‘I want to go 320.’”
Her teammate, Gonzalez, was far less fortunate. She had hoped she would contend for a state championship in the 165 weight division but didn’t even get the chance.
During her first squat of the meet, Gonzalez hyperextended her knee and was forced to withdraw from the competition before recording a score.
“For two years, Mary Ann has never missed a lift,” Mata said. “She was heartbroken. We’ve trained for two years every day, and she had it in her mind that she was going to be a state champion.”
Andrew Crum and Adam Kujawski contributed to this report.