Think winning championships can become a cliché?
If you do, don’t mention it to the Lutcher or Port Allen girls powerlifting teams. Both teams proved heavy lifting is still their thing at the LHSAA state powerlifting championships.
Lutcher claimed its 16th straight title by winning Division II on the third day of the meet held Friday at the Cajundome in Lafayette. A Division III title gives Port Allen 10 titles in the 18-year history of the program.
Division I West Monroe was the other team champion on a day that also saw Zachary’s Jaydan Jackson excel. The four-day meet ends Saturday with competition for Division I, II and III boys starting at 10 a.m.
“The one thing I don’t think people understand about what we do is how hard it is,” Lutcher’s Blair Ursin said. “We’ve won so much that people just expect us to win every year.
“They have no idea how much work goes into this. We’re involved in other sports and do other things but this is important for us as individuals and a team.”
Ursin was one of eight individual champions for the Bulldogs, whose streak of titles began seven years before the LHSAA adopted powerlifting as a sport.
Yes, it was another year of dominance as Lutcher scored 68 points — more than twice the total of the runner-up Grant (32). The Bulldogs won all but three of the weight classes.
Lutcher also swept top individual honors. Jayla Johnson won the top lifter honors on the lower weights platform at 105 pounds with a total lift (bench press, deadlift, squat) of 720 pounds.
Daige Love, the 220-plus champion with a three-lift total of 1,140 pounds, was the top lifter on the high weights platform. Ursin at 148 also was part of the Lutcher’s parade of champions.
Port Allen tallied 60 points in its Division III win — also well ahead of second-place Buckeye with 34. The Pelicans also claimed a big individual honor with 148-pound champ Jaylynn Netter taking home the Top Lifter honor in the lower weight classes.
PAHS finished the day with five individual champions. Team members hurried to put on the champions T-shirts the LHSAA provided ahead of the awards ceremony.
“Being part of something like this is not anything I dreamed about,” Port Allen 181-pound champion Isabella Newchurch said. “When I came out for powerlifting my freshman year it was my first sport.
“Yes, it takes work and we all push each other. Also, when I joined this team, I became part of a family. I am best friends with people I might not know I was not on this team.”
Jackson’s big day
Every competitor wants to make their mark. And Zachary’s Jackson did it once again on Friday.
About 10 months removed from shoulder surgery made Jackson's last high school powerlifting meet memorable not far from the track stadium where her future is scheduled to unfold. She is a UL track & field signee as a throws specialist.
Jackson won the Division I 165-pound weight class with a three-lift total of 1,200 pounds. She just missed setting a composite record on her final deadlift. But her three lifts of 450 pounds (squat), 275 pounds (bench press) and 475 pounds (deadlift) were 240 pounds better than the No. 2 finisher.
“I am really proud of myself to do this well coming back from surgery,” Jackson said. “Bench is usually my worst lift and today I did the best I have done all season.”