Bryant crew captures State 

weightlifting crown

 

By Rob Patrick

RUSSELLVILLE — The Bryant Hornets captured the Class 7A/6A weightlifting championship for the third year in a row and, for the first time, also grabbed the overall state title with a total lift among 10 lifters of a whopping 4,685 pounds.

“That’s a lot of weight,” acknowledged Bryant head coach Paul Calley who commended Bryant freshman head coach Jason Hay for accompanying the team to the competition at Russellville High School. “I think when you have the best athletes in the state of Arkansas — going to this weight competition, that’s what you have because a lot of teams don’t go because they feel like they can’t compete — it’s really big for our program. I feel like we’ve got the best weight room in the state and we should be winning state championships. It’s not unexpected but we’re very proud of these kids.”

Fayetteville, the team that has knocked the Hornets out of the playoffs the last two seasons and last year won the 7A football championship, finished second overall, West Memphis third.

“This just adds to what we’ve done (on the field),” said Calley. “We’ve won a couple of conference championships over the past four or five years and this lets everybody involved in our weight-lifting program know that what we’re doing in here works. It helps you win football games and it helps you win weight-lifting championships. It gives them confidence in what we’re doing.”

He added that the overall title was particularly pleasing, “That’s what we had our sites set on last year and the year before. We thought we could win it all and came up just short.

“For this group of kids, I think it’s big because they know we’ve been working towards this for a long time. It’s a lot of God-given ability but it’s also a lot of hard work to be able to keep yourself in position to do what they did.”

The team was represented by Wesley Walters, Raylen Cantrell, Austin Humbard, Aspen Trevino, Brandon Wallis, Chris Arnold, Cody Wallace, Tracy Emmerling, Austin Benning and Trent Rivers.

Humbard, an all-State linebacker as a junior last fall, set a new record while winning his weight class (220 pounds) with a total of 670 pounds lifted (a 295-pound power clean and a 375-pound bench press).

Trevino, the team’s leading rusher despite an injury plagued junior campaign, tied for third in the 198-pound weight class with a total of 560 pounds (245 p/c, 315 b/p).

Walter, competing in the Heavy classification, accounted for 520 pounds (225/295). Cantrell, in the 242-pound class, totaled 570 pounds (255/315) which tied for fourth. Wallis was fourth in the 181-pound class, totaling 535 pounds (240/290) while Wallace tied for fifth in the 165-pound group with 520 pounds (225/295).

Arnold, competing in the 148-pound class, amassed 410 (195/215); Emmerling, in the 132-pound group, lifted 350 (175/175); Benning, in the 123-pound division, lifted 315 (155/160); and Rivers, in the 114 group, totaled 235 (125/110).