Three Llano High School powerlifters competed at the Class 3A Division 1 State Championship March 13 at the Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg.
Head coach Richard Kattner said he was proud of seniors Lizbeth Depaz and Rubi Monroy for their performances.
'Absolutely great,' he said. 'All three of them ended up with a personal record at the very end.'
Depaz was Llano's highest finisher thanks to a squat of 350 pounds, a bench press of 175 pounds, and a dead lift of 325 pounds for a total of 850 pounds in the 165-pound weight division. She was sixth in the standings.
'Lizbeth was competing hard, pulling for a fifthplace medal,' Kattner said. 'She didn’t get it, of course, but she ended up sixth. She should have been there last year, and she was fighting, so she was very, very happy.'
In some ways Zagada wasn't supposed to advance to the state meet. She was sitting third in the 132-pound weight class at the Class 3A Region 2 Large Schools meet in Dublin March 1. But the leader failed on a lift, which pulled every lifter up a spot. Zagada finished as the runner-up and took the state meet berth.
At the state meet, Zagada had a squat of 235 pounds, a bench press of 140 pounds, and a dead lift of 275 pounds for a total of 665 pounds to finish 14th.
'She got in on a whim, which is awesome, and she ended up having a (personal record),' the coach said. 'She did great and had so much fun.'
Kattner views Monroy's 11th place finish in the 123-pound weight division as a starting point for her. He believes she can lift more and will continue to get better in the coming years. She had a squat of 265 pounds, a bench press of 155 pounds, and a dead lift of 270 pounds for a total of 690 pounds.
'That's fantastic being a sophomore and making it to state,' he said. 'It is absolutely awesome. You don’t get a lot of sophomores ending up there. She worked hard'.
The event had a total of 184 lifters.
