The Clarkston Wolves powerlifting team put forth another outstanding effort on Jan. 31 at the Thumb Regional Powerlifting Meet, hosted by Croswell-Lexington High School.
Seventeen teams and 200 athletes participated in the event. The Wolves brought home second place team trophies in the boys JV and varsity categories. The girl’s team narrowly missed the third place trophy.
According to senior Jono Moehlig, this meet was a good opportunity to evaluate the competition and to see how Clarkston would place against some of the best lifters in the state.
The judging of the three lifts- squat, bench press, and dead lift- was extremely strict in the meet since regional competitions determine which athletes qualify to compete in the Michigan High School Powerlifting Association state meet, which will be held at Montrose High School at the end of March.
Despite the close judging, the Wolves? lifters came through with strong performances. Nineteen of the 25 athletes that participated were medalists. Of the 19, 14 qualified for the state meet.
The individual medal winners for the Wolves were: Mike Issac (5th), Steve Soeder (5th), Nick Sorise (1st*), David Brelinski (3rd *), Brad Nettle (5th), Reed Body (3rd*), Nick Meola (1st*), Ben Allen (5th), Tim Horstman (1st*), Alex John (4th), Jenna Beano (1st*), Laura O’Neill (1st*), Maggie Cornell (2nd*), Bill Haun (1st*), Matt MacKinnon (3rd*), Jono Moehlig (2nd*), Jayson Smith (3rd*), Brett Kenerson (2nd*), and J.J. Lange (2nd*). (* denotes state qualifiers)
The lifters that did not qualify for the state meet at this event will have another opportunity when the Wolves travel to Goodrich on Feb. 14 for another regional meet.