Powerlifting is a relatively new sport and has gone through some changes since new head coach Andrew Sachen started this year.
The strength-based sport consists of three lifting exercises: hang clean, squat and bench, with competitions divided by gender and weight. According to Sachen the sport is very self guided because of how flexible it is, though he still ensures there is a plan for the team.
“The kids kind of go at their own pace,” Sachen said. “I still make workout cards and I still put all the exercise out there and help demonstrate and teach kids that aren’t in a certain conditioning class.”
At each tournament, the lifters do all three exercises and get three attempts at each exercise, with the highest overall weight winning their weight class. For experienced athletes like senior Waylon Schenk, powerlifting competitions are highly individual.
“Every person is different,” Schenk said. “You’ve got to find what works for you and then do that and just keep experimenting. I like to do a lot of stuff where you put more weight on the bar that you can actually do. That makes it easier to get the maximum weight that you can handle.”
Like many participants, Schenk joined powerlifting to help him with other sports, in his case football.
“[Powerlifting] just made me stronger, and I put on a lot of weight,” Schenk said. “It just made me better on the field because I was heavier.”
Though he originally joined to help in other sports, Schenk has now broken many meet records in his powerlifting career, with personal records of 450-pound squat, 370-pound hang clean and 260-pound bench press. In close competitions Schenks’ ability to push himself is necessary.
“Sometimes there can be a strategy to [the competition],” Schenk said. “If you’re close to somebody else on the last lift, if you’re behind by five pounds, you can add that to your final lift.”
Powerlifting has helped others in sports, such as softball, for sophomore Callie Caldwell.
“[Powerlifting] helps a lot in softball,” Caldwell said. “I see a huge difference in my hitting because it increases my strength.”
While powerlifting is open to anyone and is often useful to many sports, the team has shrunk in the last year. Few experienced seniors like Schenk remain active participants, which has impacted the team’s overall performance.
“I’m the only senior in the class,” Schenk said. “The team’s kind of big, yes, but it’s shrunk a little bit from last year. Last year, we were winning quite a bit, we were getting second or first. We lost a lot of seniors that were getting a lot of points, so we haven’t placed very well. We need people to join the team.”
There are many reasons for any student to join the powerlifting team, regardless of athletic background. The individual, supportive environment is fit for any athlete, according to Sachen.
“It doesn’t matter what weight class you’re in, there will be people from every school, every gender, every weight class yelling for you and trying to encourage you to set a new PR or make that list or anything,” Sachen said. “Everybody from every school is supportive.”
