The Aubrey Chaparrals hosted an invitational powerlifting meet Feb. 6, with both the boys and girls teams competing against Little Elm, Ponder and Slidell.
The Lady Chaps powerlifting team appears poised for another strong season with 24 lifters finishing and earning medals at the meet.
“We have a good mix of older and younger girls this year, [and] the more experienced girls have really stepped up and taken the lead,” head girls powerlifting coach Ron Gathright said. “… We had a lot of girls hit personal records tonight, and our placements will be high tonight. That’s a culmination of all the hard work that they’ve put in. This was probably the best [performance] we’ve had so far this season.”
Nine Lady Chaps—Matiana Walter, Brooke McAlister, Bianca Bertolani, Emma Gillum, Carmen Alexander, Ella Burton, Naomi Nkwodinma, Jaida McCoy and Haylee Moon—secured gold medals with first-place finishes in their respective weight classes.
The Lady Chaps had nine lifters— Zoe Fikes, Presley Howard, Madeline Palladino, Lulu King, Emberlynn Dye, Izera Henry, Lexis Jones, Raylin Meeks and Isabella Hunt—finish in second place.
Six of the Lady Chaps—Asia’h Dallas, Paula Pannuzzo, Aislynn Chaves, Addison Venable, Katelyn Eaton and Hadley Booth—earned third-place finishes.
Freshman, Pannuzzo, shared how much she’s already learned since joining this year.
“When I first came in and saw all these upperclassmen lift so much weight, I was like, ‘I don’t think I could ever do that,’ but once I started putting in the hard work, I started to see myself doing as much as them one day,” she said. “…When you set goals and don’t let the little things stop you, you can achieve them. That’s how the upperclassmen have gotten where they are because they pushed through, and it’s inspiring to watch.”
McAlister, one of the team’s leaders and a member of the Texas High School Women’s Powerlifting Association Hall of Fame, said she’s been blown away at how much the program has grown during time with the team.
“This year has been eye-opening,” she said. “Going back to my freshman year when we had 15 girls to now, we have over 30. It’s been incredible that this many people want to participate, [and] it’s an honor to be able to set an example for this team.”
With this performance under their belts, Gathright said the next step for the Lady Chaps is getting the team ready to compete at the regional meet Feb. 25 in Decatur.
“Number one is getting them rested up because we’ve had quite a few meets this year,” he said. ‘Then we’ll focus on cleaning up some of the mistakes that we made tonight to make sure we’re good and clean when we go into the regional meet because our goal is the same as it is every season—we’re going for that state championship.”
The Chaps also appear to be rounding into shape, with 12 lifters earning third place or better in their respective weight classes.
“We did really well tonight,” head boys powerlifting coach Ellis Hill said. “We had a lot of young guys competing and the biggest thing is for them to learn how to compete and do their best. … We’re just trying to build a culture with our program.”
Eight Chaps—Chaitanya Kadiri, Wayne Aquinaldo, Tyler Stuckey, Roman Capule, Jaxson Doramus, Toby Davis, P.J. Van Rijin and Raul Rosales—finished first in their weight classes.
Two Chaps, Cole Travascio and Austen Green, earned silver medals with second-place finishes, and Riley DuFrane and Elliott Kinney earned bronze medals, finishing third.
“We really do have a top-tier powerlifting team, and it’s just an honor to be a part of it,” firstyear lifter DuFrane said. “I’ve been wanting to do this since I was in the sixth grade, so it’s a dream come true, honestly.”
Senior and one of the Chaps’ leaders, Davis said he’s seen growth from the team so far this season and that the Chaps have big goals set for themselves.
“We’re definitely doing a lot better from last year to this year,” Davis said. “… I want to break the state squat record, which is 690 pounds, and I’ll get there. I also want our team to make regionals and move on to state.”
