The powerlifting team will have their third meet today. They had their first meet in Electra and the second in Petrolia.
The team consist of freshman Timothy Bracey, Carter Battles, Lexi Wall, Stella Phillips, sophomores Hunter Hall, Zach Defee, junior Tillee Bardwell and senior Jayda Bogar. The team is under new guidance of athletic director Bradan Ritchey after the departure of Coach Tim Pope.
“It feels great to be back again as a powerlifting coach. I used to be one at the two schools I used to coach at,” Ritchey said.
Ritchey said he had to change practices to mornings.
“It was what best worked for me and my schedule. After school I have other activities to attend to,” he said.
Ritchey said he has “high hopes” for two of his athletes.
“I think Jayda and Nathan will go above and beyond this year for weightlifting,” he said.
At the 1st meet only three girls participated. The team need five girls in order to be considered a team for region.
“At the beginning of the season we had a complication of not having enough girls competing,” he said.
Ritchey said the team’s strengths is the commitment that they have for the sport.
“The athletes that partake in this sport are dedicated and really enjoy doing the sport,” he said.
Bogar said she had a great start to this season.
“I definitely did way better than expected. I wasn’t so confident at the beginning because of the new atmosphere, but in the end my results were really good,” she said.
Bogar said her progress throughout the years is of vast comparison.
“For example my personal record last year on squat was 215 and from my recent meet I finished on 260,” Bogar said. “My improvement has increased really good since last year.”
Bogar said her hard work was definitely not easy to achieve.
“This year I have learned to stay more consistent and motivated when I work out in my own time. I work out between two to three hours daily,” she said.
With this being Bogar’s third and final year lifting, she hopes to go accomplish a lot.
“I am really confident for this year after the results from our first meet. I really need to make it count since it’s my last year so I am confident in making it to regionals and then hopefully head to state,” Bogar said.
Bardwell is a first year lifter. She said the first meet was very nerve wrecking for her.
“Seeing a bunch of people there made it a whole lot worse for me. I didn’t do so good at the Electra meet,” she said.
Bardwell said the first meet is definitely one for the books.
“I think now that I got to see and experience what the meets are like I can now know what to expect for the third one,” Bardwell said.
She said she has some areas to work on.
“I need to work on my agility so I can pass all my squats,” she said. “Jayda (Bogar) has been helping me out lately. We have been working on stretches and also on increasing my lifting weight.”
She said she really appreciates the help she has received from her experienced teammates.
“I think the person that has helped me put the most has been Jayda,” she said. “ She has helped me out through my journey through lifting.
