Elk Mound sends 22 athletes to state powerlifting meet

by Marlys Kruger

By competing at various meets this season, including the regional meet held at their own school, 22 out of the 50 members of the Elk Mound High School powerlifting team  competed at the Wisconsin High School Powerlifting Association state meet March 11-12 in La Crosse.

The team is coached by Dylan Pronschinske who started the team after serving as an assistant coach at La Crosse Logan while student teaching several years ago.

“We have all types of athletes out for the sport,” Pronschinske said, “The majority of them are in other sports in the fall or spring and most of them treat powerlifting as a method to improve their strength for other sports. Since I am the assistant football coach and varsity softball coach, powerlifting has become a way for me to strength train my athletes outside of those seasons,” he added.

Competitions are based on weight divisions ranging from 114 -225 pounds plus for the boys and 97-198  pounds plus for the girls. In order to qualify for the state meet, lifters must lift a certain total weight in three different lifts including the squat, deadlift and bench press. Each lifter gets three attempts and the highest lift in the three areas are combined for the total score. For instance, a girl in the 105 pound class must have a total of 445 pounds and a boy in the 148 pound division must have a 950 total.

Mounders who will advance to state include for the girls: Hannah Hollister, Sarah Sweeney, Amber Edington, Kristin Ploeckelman, Karrie Jo Nigon, Kirstin Dutzie, Abby Kasper, Allison Lindquist, Jade Sorenson, Abbey Olson, Hannah Hawkins, Emily Ausman and Taylor Deling. Boys: Jordan Van Schoonhoven, George Friberg, Austin Owens, Darren Svihovec, Ben Mack, Bryce Kasper, Tyler Sahm, Andrew Benson and Hunter Burlington.

Regional meet

The local sports reporter was mighty impressed after arriving at the regional meet held in the high school gym. The parking lot was packed and the stands were full with fans cheering on the 220 competitors. Four platforms were set up and each platform needed three judges, five spotters (or loaders), three table workers who posted weights and results on a big screen via a computer, and two coaches. In addition, parents of the lifters volunteered in the concession stand and admission and registration tables from the time it started early in the morning until it ended at 6:00. After a quick cleanup, an award ceremony for Junior Varsity girls and boys, and Varsity girls and boys was held as well as a Best Lifter award to the top male and female lifter.

“This regional meet was held for over 20 years in Phillips, and in the first year I coached in Elk Mound,” Pronschinske said. “But the Phillips coach was stepping down and they wanted to give another school the chance to host it. I know we were the first school to say yes to hosting it. It takes a large amount of volunteers, not just during the meet but the night before to get things set up and to take everything down again after the meet. We certainly could not do it without all the volunteers,” he concluded.