EAST BRADY, Pa. (EYT/D9) — The weight room can be a place of tedium.
Doing rep after rep can get tiresome and monotonous.
But the Central Clarion football program, as well as several others around District 9 and the state, have found a way to spice up getting stronger.
Powerlifting competitions.
(Pictured above, members of the Central Clarion football program competed in the Ironman Teen Bench Press and Deadlift Challenge on Saturday in East Brady, winning the Strongest Team Award/submitted photo)
The Wildcats had thirteen in the program enter one such event on Saturday at the Ironman Teen Bench Press and Deadlift Challenge at All-Fit Gym, located in the former East Brady Elementary School building.
Central Clarion won the Strongest Team Award at the nine-team event, which also included squads from D9 schools Karns City and Punxsutawney, as well as from Armstrong, Gateway, Homer Center, Indiana, Knoch and Lenape Tech.
Central Clarion football coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.
The meet was run by Sons of Thunder Powerlifting, which is a non-demoninational Christian-based sports ministry.
“We’ve been working hard in the weight room and that can get monotonous,” said Central Clarion coach Dave Eggleton. “I wanted to find some sort of competition. It’s always a fun thing. I just so happened to see this one. I mentioned it to some of the guys and several of them said that sounded like fun.”
The age-range varied greatly.
Eggleton had some lifters as young as seventh graders up to juniors at the high schools that make up the Central Clarion co-op.
All thirteen of them fared well.
Carter Hindman, a seventh grader, had the best bench press and deadlift in the 13-year-old division. In the 148-pound class, Carter benched 165 pounds and dead lifted 325 pounds.
He was third in the dead lift and fourth in the bench in the 13-15 grouping and third in the dead lift among competitors in the 13-19 age group.
Four others notched first places from the Wildcats.
Noah Harrison, a sophomore, was first in the bench in the 165-pound class with a 245-pound effort. He was also second in the deadlift at 405.
Braylon Beckwith, another sophomore, was first in the deadlift in the 165-pound class at 420 and was third in the bench at 225.
Yet another sophomore, Josh Duncan, had a 260-pound bench to place first in the 243-pound-and-up class. He was third in the deadlift at 415.
Coleman Slater, a junior, won the deadlift in the 198-pound class at 405. He was also third in the bench at 235.
“It was cool to see guys get excited for each other and hollering and screaming and cheering for each other,” Eggleton said. “We had a couple guys get some personal records. They were not only excited for themselves, but for their teammates.”
It wasn’t just Central Clarion cheering for Central Clarion. All nine teams cheered on each other, which is a unique part of the powerlifting community.
“Everyone is cheering everyone else on,” Eggleton said. “Everyone is supporting each other, so that’s a neat thing to see, to see that camaraderie around weightlifting and to see that type of excitement.”
It also breaks up the boredom.
“We’re obviously not looking to do this as a once-a-week thing — we’re not going to be powerlifters — but it’s a nice thing to get the kids together and get them competing and supporting one another,” Eggleton said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we did at least one more before football season comes around, because there is a lot of interest.”
Karns City was second as a team.
Luke Cramer, coming off an ACL injury that he is still rehabbing, was the Outstanding Bench Presser with an effort of 390 pounds.
Central Clarion football coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.
