By David Fleet
Editor
A Brandon High School class are picking up some cash for picking some weights.
The Brandon Lift-a-thon is the idea of Joel Malkasian, a BHS physical eduation and health instructor who decided to inspire his class of about 35 lifters in his Athletic Performance Class by challenging them to collect donations and pledges for lifting weights.
“This class aims to improve the overall athletic performance of Brandon Student-Athletes,” said Malkasian, who has been in the district for seven years including the last two at BHS. “We needed the funds for some new equipment and the students competed on three lifts – bench press, back squat and dead lift. Then the total weight was combined and money was collected based on the that amount. We had some very good numbers.”
Top five finishers and their total weight lifted: Joey Lovasz – 1,215 pounds; Matt Hill -1,105 pounds; Kevin Bickett – 1,015 pounds; Clay Deboer – 855 pounds and Randal Hutchison 835 pounds.
“It helps that four of the five top fininshers were members of the Brandon Powerlifting team,” he said.