St. Paul’s powerlifting coach Jesse Kellum was all smiles after the South Regional, hosted by Covington High, on Feb. 25.
He had good reason to be happy as the Wolves took home a fourth straight regional crown edging out second-place Brother Martin.
“It was really rewarding,” Kellum said. “We bring a lot, a lot of fans since it is close. I can’t thank the fans enough. We had massive fan support, so I was really happy that we were able to pull out a win in front of all of our fans.”
The Wolves are the defending Division I state runners-up but only returned four lifters from last year’s state tournament squad.
Zach Montz (123 pounds) and Chandler Loesher (242) took home individual regional titles, while Joshua Kellum (148) and Doug Ricalde (198) finished second. Loesher bested his all-time Louisiana high school bench record with a bench press of 555 pounds.
Now, the Wolves will focus on preparing for the LHSAA Powerlifting State Championships scheduled for March 22-25 at the Cajundome in Lafayette.
“We’ve got about a month until state, so we have to get a few things dialed in. It’s all about looking at video and working on technique and things like that,” Kellum said. “The state projections are in, and we’re No. 1, but it is really neck and neck with Covington, West Monroe.”
Covington coach John Burford said the South Regional was an excellent tune-up for the upcoming state tournament.
“It was a great competition all around. The competition ran smoothly. There was a lot of excellent lifting, and it was such a tight battle. For my team, we had a couple of attempts in some crucial spots that we couldn’t capitalize on. That pushed us down the ranks a little bit, but hats off to St. Paul’s and Brother Martin,” Burford said.
Two Covington lifters won individual honors. Nicolas Calidonia (114) was named best lifter for the lightweight classes, while Chase Lawton (220) took home the honor in the heavyweight classes.
“They didn’t have their best meets per se despite winning the best lifter. We were hoping that both of them would go a little higher on their lifts,” Burford said. “But it’s hard to complain when they win and get best lifter, but when you have high expectations, that’s kind of how it goes.”
Lawton set a new state squat record with a squat of 690 pounds. In addition, brother Martin’s Zac Rambeau set a new bench record (445 pounds) in the 165-pound weight class.
Other individual winners include Mandeville’s Zach McCaffery (132), Brother Martin’s Jonathan Wartt (148) and Rambeau (165), Fontainebleau’s Gage Lisle (181), Franklinton’s Jaylin Magee (198), Rummel’s Bradlee Jones (275) and Salmen’s Dwayne Coleman (SHW).
The competition ended an exciting two weeks of powerlifting locally as Covington also hosted the girls regional.
“Hosting is quite a task,” Burford said. “It’s a big event. There are a lot of moving pieces. We have a lot of teams help us. We have to borrow equipment, and other teams provide volunteers. There are so many teams who chip in to make this happen. It’s really indicative of the sport of powerlifting in the south region.”
Services Marketplace – Listings, Bookings & Reviews
