Jeff Kaley
ANADARKO — There weren’t a lot of Eagles at the Oklahoma Football Coaches Association Regional Powerlifting Meet last Friday, but Waurika’s entries proved hard to ignore.
Cody Atwood and Gus Porterfield each qualified to extend their seasons to the state meet level, and Matt Smith ended his career by being the premier lifter in the bench press at the OFCA Small School Regional Meet.
“The guys did really well. We only had four go (to the regional), but two of them placed in the overall and Matt was the Outstanding Bench Press Lifter in the heavyweight division,” coach Glenn Howard said. “We’ll have two of the four of them going to state, and that’s pretty good.
“We won’t score a lot of team points at state and a lot of the individual winners in the regionals were way out in front in Gus and Cody’s classes. But they’ve got a chance to place and Matt’s got a shot at placing in bench press.”
Earning a repeat trip to the state gathering, junior Atwood took third overall among 27 entries in the 220 pound class. He was bolstered by a winning lift of 500 lbs. in the deadlift, while also taking fourth in squat thrust with a 400 lb. lift and ninth in bench press with a 245 hoist.
Classmate Porterfield was fourth overall in the 242 class, with a total of 1,150 lbs. in the three lifts. Among 23 lifters in the class, he was fourth in both squat thrust (430 lbs.) and deadlift (470). Porterfield also took eighth in bench press, when he raised 250 lbs.
“Gus can actually do better in deadlift, but he had scratched on his second lift, which was 470 pounds. We needed to make sure he placed, so he tried 470 again and made it.”
The limitations Smith faces because of cerebral palsy kept the senior from finishing higher than 15th overall in the 198-pound class. However, leg strength isn’t as important in bench press, and Smith proved the power in his upper body by raising 355 lbs. and being named Outstanding Heavyweight Bench Press Lifter.
Smith also had lifts of 235 lbs. in squat thrust and 300 in deadlift to finish with a total lift of 890 lbs.
Freshman Mason Johnson competed in the regional for the first time and finished as the 26th overall lifter in the 181 class. Johnson raised 245 lbs. in squat thrust, 180 in bench press and 315 in deadlift for a 740 total lift.
Atwood and Porterfield will hope to be among the top finishers today, when the OFCA State Meet begins at 9 a.m. at McLoud High School.
