SOLOMON — The Ellinwood High School power lifting team competed at the Class 2A state meet on Saturday.
The boys finished in fourth place out of 16 teams and the girls took seventh place competing against 13 teams.
“I was totally shocked,” Ellinwood head coach Dusty Beam said. “I knew we’d done well in the meets we’d been to before, but not in my wildest dreams did I think we’d finish as high as we did.
“They both blew my expectations out of the water.”
Power lifting is not a state-sanctioned sport. The meets are arranged by the coaches.
“To go to state, you can take anyone that you want,” Beam said. “You just sign up kids into different weight classes. There are several different weight classes. Then they compete in the bench press, hang clean and squat.
“Any type of weight lifting is not sanctioned in the state of Kansas. It’s more free lance. Really, they could throw a 2A state meet, and then we could throw a state meet a week later, but (the coaches) work together and coordinate that stuff.”
The Eagles had nine kids place at the state meet — Ryley Ney (123-pound weight class), Jared Oelke (132), Cody Isern (156), Tanner Swank (156), Colin Miller (165), Colton Churchill (173), Marcus Brown (181), Cameron Williams (198) and Ian Goering (220).
Brown finished in second place overall, taking first place in the bench press with a lift of 345 pounds.
The Lady Eagles had three girls place with Abby Watts landing at the top.
Watts finished in first place overall, taking third in the squat and hang clean. She finished in second place in the bench press.
“Marcus set a state record with 345 in the bench press,” Beam said. “With him getting that, I’d say he was the leader. It is up to the schools that host the meet to keep track of state records.
“Abby Watts, she was probably our leader on the girls’ side. She did a great job.”
Beam said that his team has been putting a lot of effort into competing.
“There’s a core group of kids who come in every day before school and workout an hour before they go to class,” Beam said. “That same core group works out an hour after school, too, so they’re working two hours a day.
“They put an awful lot of work into this.”

                                                                    — Kevin Price

HIGH SCHOOL
POWER LIFTING
Class 2A state meet

At Solomon

Saturday

BOYS
Ellinwood results
123 — Ryley Ney fourth overall, fifth in squat, third in bench and fourth in clean
132 — Jared Oelke fifth overall, fifth in squat, sixth in bench and fourth in clean
156 — Cody Isern fifth overall, fifth in bench and sixth in clean
156 — Tanner Swank fourth overall, fifth in squat, sixth in bench and second in clean
165 — Colin Miller third overall, fifth in squat, third in bench and fifth in clean
173 — Colton Churchill third overall, second in bench and second in clean
181 — Marcus Brown second overall, third in squat, first in bench and fourth in clean
198 — Cameron Williams sixth in clean
220 — Ian Goering sixth in clean

GIRLS
114 — Chelsea Day sixth in overall, fourth in squat, sixth in bench and fifth in clean
140 — Lindsey Zink sixth overall, sixth in squat, sixth in bench and sixth in clean
165 — Abby Watts first overall, third in squat, second in bench and third in clean