A Three-Way Weightlifting Win

The Maclay Boys Varsity Weightlifting Team Defeats Both Gadsden County and Taylor County in a Tri-Match

Photo by Brooke Nohle/Maclay Andalusian

On Wednesday, March 6, the Maclay boys varsity weightlifting team hosted a tri-match meet against Taylor County High School and Gadsden County High School. Being a tri-match, having a good performance could increase their rankings for the postseason. Maclay ended up placing first in both the olympic and traditional categories, with a score of 55 and 41 points. Taylor County placed second, with a score of 0 and 55 points, and then Gadsden County with 0 points overall, as they never showed up to the meet.

The meet opened with snatch, one of the toughest lifts. Senior Will O’Connor outperformed his opponents, lifting a total of 205lbs for snatch and 450lbs as his olympic total, making this his new personal best.

“I feel that the meet went well,” O’Connor said. “I was focused and determined to break my own school record of 200 lbs on snatch, and I was able to beat it by doing [lifting] 205 lbs on snatch.”

Next up was clean-and-jerk. Senior Jack Grooters set a new personal record on both snatch and clean and jerk and lifted a total of 210 lbs on the clean-and-jerk, and finished with an olympic total of 390 lbs, placing him second in his weight class. Senior Gavin Rowe placed first, who beat Grooters only by five pounds, with an olympic total of 395 lbs. Sophomore Justin Murphy also had an impressive performance, lifting a total of 370 lbs in the traditional category.

“I think my performance was good,” Murphy said. “I got most of the goals that I went for, but I still need to work on my form.”

Finally, was the pause bench. Sophomore Keaton Beach maxed out at 270 lbs on the pause bench, setting a new heavyweight school record. Beach also had the heaviest overall maximum lift in the meet, with a final traditional score of 495 lbs.

“It feels great to be the one to break the record for the pause bench,” Beach said. “ I would not have been able to break the record if it wasn't for Coach Gentry and Boatfield pushing me every week to be better.”

The team as a whole finished with multiple personal records, helping them to take the win over both Taylor County and Gadsden County. The boys varsity weightlifting team will continue to train for their meet against Lincoln in two weeks, on March 20.