By MARK MOLINA | STAFF WRITER
The powerlifitng season is underway and 16 teams convened on Brownsville for the third-annual Lopez Invitational.
When it was all said an done, the hometown schools stood out as the Lopez girls and Pace boys took home team championships Saturday afternoon at Lopez High School.
The Vikings racked up 26 points and three first-place medals, edging out Weslaco East (24) and Hanna (22).
Aside from medals, Pace head coach Joe Espinoza said he was pleased that most his team recorded personal-best marks.
“Every meet that we go out there, we try to get personal bests and that’s exactly what we aim for because our main goal is state,” Pace head coach Joe Espinoza said. “We took everything we had out of them and every single kid set person records — that was a good thing for us. Now, the expectation is high on them and like I tell them, we’re going to expect first place every time we go out there.
“They’re capable of doing that because we have a semi-young team that is still learning.”
The Mercedes (18) and Los Fresnos (17) boys rounded out the top five.
The Lady Lobos scored 37 points, led by a pair of first-place finishes and four second-place medals.
Lopez head coach Matthew Barba said the win was the program’s first step in improving on a second-place finish at the state meet last year as well as getting its own state title.
“It’s forward progress because our boys team has been successful setting the mark of where we’re at (as a powerlifting program),” he said. “Those boys really laid the foundation for us and now it’s time to build the house with the girls. These girls are young, very fired up and eager to win. We’re going up against 13-time state champion Port Lavaca, so I’m excited to go at them again.”
The Los Fresnos Lady Falcons placed second with 34 points, followed by Edinburg IDEA (23), Weslaco East (21) and Rio Hondo (19).
Taking home top lifter honors for the 97- to 148-pound weight divisions was Lady Lobo Norma Vega and San Benito’s Leann Ramirez in the 165-pound to 259-plus.
Vega’s total was 795 pounds (350 squat, 145 bench press, 300 deadlift). Ramirez (435 squat, 245 bench, 390 deadlift) lifted a total of 1,070 pounds.
Top lifters for the boys from the 114- to 148-pound weight divisions were Pace’s Felix Rizo and Lopez’s Jair Ibarra.
Rizo, from the 148-pound division, lifted a total of 1,340 pounds (540 squat, 300 bench, 500 deadlift). Ibarra, 220-pound division, lifted a total of 1,480 pounds (555 squat, 410 bench, 515 deadlift).
All totals were converted to Malone totals, which are pound-for-pound projections.
Rivera’s Justin Garza had a big day with a total of 1,655 pounds, but stood out with a 720-pound squat on his way to a first-place finish in the 275-pound division.