WHS powerlifters set to compete Saturday

WORLAND - Spring is around the corner so it's time for the Worland High School powerlifters to showcase their squat, bench press and deadlift skills.

The second annual Warrior Heavy Metal Classic powerlifting competition beings 9 a.m. Saturday at Worland High School.

In its second year the Warrior Heavy Metal Classic will see an increase in competitors from last year. During last year's Classic a total of 11 lifters from Worland High School and Shoshoni High School competed. This year the Classic is expecting 35 to 50 lifters, from WHS, Cody High School and Lovell High School.

"Lovell and Cody confirmed," said WHS teacher and co-director of the Classic Ryan Utterback. "We'll have 10 to 15 lifters and Cody sounds like they will bring 20 to 25. So we're hoping for 35 to 50 kids competing."

The big increase in competitors this year has Utterback excited for the longevity for the Classic.

"It's a big deal. The focus of the meet is to promote weight lifting in general and powerlifting specifically as a way to keep kids fit. Eventually it would be good to see it grow to 100 kids next year or the year after. Who knows, maybe a whole bunch of kids come out of the woodworks this weekend. If we can get to the 35 to 50 range we'll be on track for the growth we're hoping for," said Utterback.

Rhiannon Kozlowski will be Worland's only returning lifter from last year's Classic but Worland will still have plenty of newcomers, like Alejandra Rice, who will perform well.

"Most will be competing for first time. Rhiannon Kozlowski will be the only returning lifter from last year. Cody Newell competed at the meet in Shoshoni two years ago and Alejandra Rice hasn't competed in this meet before but she has in other powerlifting meets and is an experienced lifter," said Utterback, "Overall we'll have a number of kids that will do pretty well."

All competitors will weigh-in at 8 a.m. and following a few meetings the Classic will look to start around 9 a.m. With the increase in competitors, the squat event will take longer than last year's, but after that event the bench press and deadlifting events should move at a quicker pace.

"The squatting segment we'll just go one at a time because you need a special squat rack and I was only able to get my hands on one. Once we're done with squats we'll have two bench press and two deadlift stations. That way we can go a little bit faster to accommodate for the more competitors," said Utterback.

Helping run the Classic with Utterback is co-director Brant Knight from the National Guard and volunteering their time to help officiate will be Mark Bennett (Worland Health Club), Randall Homan, (Chopper CrossFit) and Diana Swalstad (Worland CrossFit).

"We will have a good experienced contingent of volunteers helping out throughout the tournament," said Utterback. "We're looking forward to it. The community is welcomed to come watch what will be some good weight lifting going on at Worland High School."