The Aubrey Lady Chaps powerlifting team took their A game to the 4A Regional Meet on Tuesday night, with 13 lifters walking away with medals.
The Lady Chaps had 28 participants at the event, with 11 of them qualifying to compete at the state championship meet and finishing second in the overall team standings.
“They put some big numbers,” Aubrey head girls powerlifting coach Ron Gathright said. “We had a lot of personal bests, and, overall, they performed extremely well.”
Matiana Walter earned gold, finishing first in the 97-pound weight class with a total of 620 pounds lifted.
Zoe Fikes finished second in the 97-pound weight class, earning a silver medal, with a new personal best of 120 pounds in bench press and an overall total of 585 pounds.
Presley Howard finished fourth in the 114-pound weight class, with an overall total of 695 pounds.
Asiah Dallas finished fifth in the 114-pound weight class, with an overall total of 655 pounds and new personal bests in squat and total.
Bianca Bertolani secured a silver medal, finishing second in the 123-pound class with a total of 735 pounds and set a new personal best of 275 pounds in squat.
Bertolani shared her excitement at qualifying for her first appearance at the state meet.
“It feels unreal,” she said. “At the beginning of the year, I didn’t expect anything like this. My goal was to qualify for regionals, but thankfully I made it to state, and hopefully, I can set some new personal records and totals.”
Emma Gillum took gold in the 132-pound weight class with a recordbreaking performance. Gillum broke the regional record in squat with a best of 400 pounds and finished with an overall total of 930 pounds.
Madeline Palladino finished second in the 132-pound weight class, taking silver, with a total of 760 pounds and personal bests in all categories.
Carmen Alexander finished second in the 165-pound weight class, securing silver, with new personal bests in squat and a total of 945 pounds.
Emberlynn Dye placed third in the 165-pound weight class, earning bronze with a total of 865 pounds and new personal bests in all categories.
Ella Burton finished fourth in the 181-pound weight class, with an overall total of 850 pounds.
Naomi Nkwodinma set new personal records in all categories, taking second in the 198-pound weight class and earning silver, with an overall total of 1065 pounds.
Raylin Meeks finished fourth in the 220-pound weight class, with an overall total of 760 pounds.
Haylee Moon took first and gold in the 242-pound weight class, with an overall total of 1165 pounds and new personal bests in all categories.
Moon said she’s looking forward to making her second appearance at the state meet.
“I’m honored that I have the opportunity and the ability to make it back,” she said. 'I hope I [perform] better this year, and I plan to stay humble and take it one lift at a time.”
Gathright said he’s proud of the growth the Lady Chaps’ powerlifting program has experienced over the years and said he has high hopes for his team in the final round.
“When we started the team, we probably had 15 or 16 lifters in the program,” he said. “We had a total of 30 this year, and 28 qualified for regionals, which is the most ever. With our reputation within the school, it just continues to grow the program because the girls want to be a part of this success that we've had [and] … with the 11 girls that qualified for state, we feel very good about our chances to compete for a state championship in Edinburg.”
