By CONSTANCIO MARTINEZ, JR.
Special to the PRESS
This past Saturday, January 13, the Port Isabel Powerlifting teams traveled to Brownsville to compete in the Rivera Powerlifting Meet. The boy’s division saw 130 lifters compete from the following 12 RGV schools: Port Isabel, Harlingen, Harlingen South, San Benito, Edinburg, Edinburg Vela, Edinburg North, Edinburg Economedes, Bro. Rivera, Bro. Pace, Bro. Riverview IDEA and PSJA Memorial.
Port Isabel was one of two small schools competing among the 6A and 5A schools in attendance, yet Port Isabel successfully came away with a 3rd-place team finish.
Port Isabel’s primary success came from two-place finishers Arnold Lopez and Vicente Azura. Lopez, who competes in the 114lb weight class, finished with a total weight of 850 pounds (squat:315, Bench Press:170, Dead Lift:365). Meanwhile, Azura who competes in the 123lb class ended with a full lift of 1015 pounds (squat:385, bench:225, Dead Lift: 405). Both lifters currently hold the #1 ranking in the region in their respective weight classes.
Other notable PI finishes: Aaron Barrera finished 2nd in the 181lb class with a total weight of 1385 pounds; Luis Varela, 2nd place, 275lb class, a total weight of 1400 pounds; Mario Nava, 3rd place, 242lb class, total weight of 1360. Also competing were Noah Hernandez (7th, total wt:1130), Jesus Contreras (8th, total wt:1100), Joe Perez (10th, total wt:1055), Arnulfo Hernandez (12th, total wt:910), and Carlos Cabrera (6th, total wt:1195).
Meanwhile, in the girls’ division, 136 lifters competed from the same schools listed above, plus the addition of PSJA Southwest for a total of 13 schools.
Due to other extra-curricular activities going on at the same time, such as a soccer game and DECA competition, the PI girls’ team only had four lifters competing.
PI’s Natalie Martinez, currently the #2 ranked lifter in the region for her weight class, finished in 5th place in the 165lb class with a total weight of 865 pounds (squat:300, bench:190, dead lift:375). Other PI results, Stacey Suarez finished 7th in the 114lb class with a total weight of 555 pounds (squat:230, bench:115, dead lift:210), Emma Villarreal finished 7th in the 220 class with a total weight of 640 pounds (squat:270, bench:135, dead lift:235) and Saturn Trejo finished 8th in the 181lb class with a total weight of 620 pounds (squat:275, bench:155, dead lift:190).
New powerlifting coach John Calvillo says he has several athletes involved in the program but believes in sharing them with other programs. “Boys did a good job competing in a big meet against big 6A and 5A schools. Big Meets like this will prepare them for Regionals and State Meets!” said coach Calvillo.
Team placement was based on the summation of the school’s combined individual awarded points. Individual placement was based on the summation of the following three lifts: 1. Squat, 2. Bench Press, and 3. Deadlift, which results in a Total Lift amount. An athlete was awarded points as follows: 7, 5, 3, 2, or 1 for finishing as one of the first five finishers in each weight class.