Powerlifting team trains for championship

Reprinted from the Vermilion issue dated Feb. 11, 2009 with permission of Lanoi Zemichael, staff writer, lanoiz@yahoo.com 

The powerlifting squad of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is ready to compete against 45 universities for March’s Collegiate Power Lifting Championships in Baton Rouge. The squad is serious about winning first prize.

The Collegiate Power Lifting Championships from last year are still fresh in the minds of Coach Travis Warner, assistant Jeff Melancon, and the power lifters.

 “We’ve had one goal in mind this past year which is to win,” said Warner. “We lost first place by one point. It would have been our first national championship, but we didn’t expect to do that well so we were happy. La tech won the meet. La tech has won 14 out of the last 15 years;probably 25 of the last 30 years. And it was La Tech’s first year that beat our guys by a point. Our women placed eighth last year. One of our women returned this year as well, so hopefully our women can place and be higher than eighth.”

Abby Holmes, captain for the women’s group, said she has hope for herself and the squad. This is her last year as a student at UL of Lafayette and she wants it to be a fantastic year for her team mates.

“I came really close to winning in the top nationals last year, so I hope this last year competing as an athlete I win and move on to Worlds,” said Holmes. ”Hopefully the girls will do top five finish even though we’re a small group;
we still usually place. And I hope the guys can bring it home this year from losing by one point last year.”

Warner said Billy Naucin won Men’s Open Division. Sam Bennet and Michael Broussard set new records. Broussard also won nationals as a freshman. Kerry Louque and Colin White placed in Nationals. Melissa Scott bench pressed 259 lbs. Freshman Bryce Higginbotham is a new, valuable asset. And there’s more talent. However, Warner said he wants more power lifters.

“We currently have about 35males and seven females, but we are always looking for more lifters regardless of skill. We’ll teach you how to train. No weight train experience is neither required nor beginning strength level. All that we ask is that you come and are willing to train hard and we’ll show you everything. And we think you’ll make fantastic gains. Some of our lifters may never win a meet and we’re perfectly OK with that. They’re just as important to the team as our national championships. So any UL of Lafayette student can join, big or small. Any UL student who would like to join or give it a try is welcome to join us for a workout. Just call me at 349-0006.”

The UL of Lafayette squad is a squad of quality; any new members can only better the team.

“Hopefully we’ll win this year and get the first national championship ring for UL,” said Melancon. 

Athletic Network Footnote:  Profiles of the members of the Powerlifting Team are posted on the Athletic Network. To view the team members’ profiles,  click on the Select a Team Search Engine in the upper left, then highlight and click on Powerlifting. The team members are listed in alphabetical order from 2008 back to and including 2000.