The rise of powerlifting across the state has found its way back to the Blue Dragons
by Delilah Johnson, GHS Blue Ink
It has been rumored that the Garretson school will be getting a new sport this winter: Powerlifting - a form of competitive weightlifting in which a contestant attempts three different types of lifts in a set sequence.
You may think powerlifting is a brand-new sport for Garretson but this sport is not a stranger to the Garretson community. Garretson’s last year with powerlifting was 2018.
According to former Garretson student Tanner Gutzmer, who graduated in 2015, “powerlifting was a thing when I was in school, but it wasn’t really affiliated with the school."
Gutzmer also stated, “We got powerlifting the fall of my freshman year, so in 2011, it was through our athletic trainer who did our explosion workouts in the morning.”
Garretson didn’t continue having a powerlifting program after 2018, as there wasn’t enough interest in it. Finally, six years later, there is finally enough interest to give it another chance.
Many students like freshmen Wyatt Potter, who gave up wrestling for powerlifting, hopes that powerlifting will be around for a while.
Potter admitted he will miss certain aspects of wrestling, but said, “I'm looking forward to being able to get new records for my lifting.”
Powerlifting isn't uncommon for schools to have. Schools close to Garretson like Baltic, Brandon Valley, Dell Rapids, and Dell Rapids St. Mary’s have a powerlifting program. With most of these schools hosting competitions for powerlifting throughout the season.
Powerlifting competitions take place on the weekends. On average there are about four “meets” a year. At these competitions athletes perform the three different types of lifts in powerlifting: back squat, deadlift, and bench. There are three one-rep attempts to lift the heaviest weight in your respective weight category for the specific lift you are doing. For each Weight category, you get an award for each type of lift if you lift the heaviest amount for your weight class.
The final scoring in powerlifting comes down to who lifts the most amount of weight overall. They take all of the heaviest amount of weight you did for each lift, and add them all together.
If you have other winter sports that you think will keep you occupied from doing powerlifting, trust me, you can make it work! Many people during the spring juggle three sports at once. How will doing powerlifting be any different? If powerlifting practices are in the morning and let’s say wrestling practice is after school, you can make both work!
Sophomore Tanner Baatz is one student who is planning to make time for both of these activities.
When asked if he is worried about the long days Baatz stated, “I’m kind of used to it already, just because of how my schedule usually is. It would be just like football, lifting in the morning, and practicing in the afternoon.”
Baatz also stated, “Powerlifting will help me in the strength aspect for wrestling, like throwing big guys around."
Powerlifting will be coached by head football coach Jerry Weiland. Practices will be at 6:30 a.m. in the weight room.
