By BRET H. MCCORMICK
The LHSAA Powerlifting State Championships get underway today at the Cajundome in Lafayette, and as usual, Rapides Parish expects to have plenty of lifters competing for championships.
The four-day championships begin with Division IV and V boys competing on Wednesday followed by the Division IV and V girls on Thursday. Division I, II and III girls will battle on Friday, and the state meet concludes on Saturday with the Division I, II and III boys.
Eight Rapides Parish schools will send lifters to the Powerlifting State Championships.
Alexandria Senior High and Pineville will compete in Division I boys and girls. Peabody and Tioga are entered in the Division II boys and girls competition. Buckeye’s boys and girls will compete for the Division III title, while Bolton has a single entry in Division III girls. Glenmora’s boys and girls will lift in the Division IV competition, while Northwood-Lena has two lifters competing in the Division V boys meet.
Teams may qualify up to 11 lifters who compete in 11 different weight classes at the state meet, with no more than two lifters per weight class. Lifters compete at six regional meets across the state, and the top 10 lifters in each division advance to state.
Lifters compete in back squat, bench press and deadlift events with their total weights from each event being combined for a composite total. Team points are awarded to the top six finishers in each weight class on a 7-5-4-3-2-1 format.
Pineville senior McKinzley Thomason will look to leave her name in the state’s record book on Friday following a disappointing 2023 season.
Thomason won the state title in the 105-pound weight class as a freshman in 2021 before moving up a weight class and finishing as the runner-up in the 114-pound class as a sophomore.
However, she injured her shoulder in practice last year and was unable to complete a lift on the bench press at regionals, so she did not qualify for the state meet. She’s looking for some redemption on Friday as she looks to close her career with a second state title.
Thomason enters Friday’s meet as the top seed in the 123-pound class after winning the Central Louisiana regional with a total of 870 pounds. Her regional marks would give her the state composite record for the squat and total combined weight for the 123 class.
Her goals heading into Friday, she said, are to break the state squat (335) and composite (850) records and to break all four state division records – 325 in squat, 190 in bench, 340 in deadlift and 810 composite. The ultimate goal, she added, is to lift a total of 900 pounds.
“I’ve been watching all these records all throughout high school and looking like I can do this and just striving to where I’m at the point in my life where I’m like, you can do it if you just put your mind to it,” Thomason said.
Thomason won’t be the only parish lifter seeking an individual title on Friday as five others enter as No. 1 seeds in their weight classes.
ASH senior Isabella Rachal, the regional champion in the 148-pound class, enters as the top
seed in Division I. Tioga juniors Tamiyah Howard, the regional champion in the 181 class, and Cassidy Vickers (97 class) are top seeds in Division II.
Buckeye, meanwhile, has two regional champions and defending state champions looking to repeat in Division III. Junior Madelyn Marcotte is the top seed in the 97 class, while senior Kylie Dyer is the top seed in the 132 class.
Pineville senior Aniyah Dorn is seeking her first individual state title and is the No. 3 seed in the Division I 165-pound class after finishing as runner-up in the 148 class the past two years.
Buckeye enters as the favorite to claim the team title in Division III, though the Lady Panthers should get stiff competition from Port Allen and Church Point. Buckeye, the runner-up last year, is looking for its sixth state title and first since 2006.
Pineville and ASH are in the hunt to finish on the podium in Division I, though they both are chasing heavy favorite West Monroe, which has all 11 lifters seeded in position to score.
Tioga has a chance at a top-three finish in Division II, though defending champion Lutcher is the overwhelming pick to repeat as all 11 of its lifters are seeded in the top three.
On the boys’ side, Buckeye has the best chance at bringing a team championship back to Rapides Parish. The Panthers, who haven’t had a top-three team finish since 2019, are projected to finish second behind Church Point in Saturday’s Division III meet.
Junior Matthew Ryland, the regional champion in the 198-pound class, and senior Canaan Hoosier (165 class) both enter as top seeds in their weight class.
Tioga junior Ryan Reynolds, the 220-pound regional champion, is the only parish lifter seeded No. 1 in Division II as he looks to lead the Indians to a top-three for the first time since they won the state title in 2021.
Peabody senior Latavion Bullitts, who won a state individual and team title two years ago at Bolton, won the Central Louisiana regional and is the No. 2 seed in the 132-pound class.
Pineville senior Spencer Nichols, the regional champion in the 181-pound class, enters as the second seed and the highest-seeded parish lifter in Division I. Nichols is the best chance for a state title in that division as ASH and Pineville will send five lifters between them.
Buckeye boys and girls powerlifting coach Lacey Hoosier said her teams are excited for the opportunity to compete against the state’s best lifters.
“Both the boys and girls Panther powerlifting teams have trained hard over the past few months to work towards one common goal – reaching the team podium at state,” Hoosier said. “Each of them is unique and contributes in their own way. I believe in my teams and their ability to see this through to the end and know that no matter what, they have learned through this sport.”