ABILENE - Stanton senior Ashton Smith competed at the Division 2 boys' state powerlifting meet in Abilene on Mar. 27. He ended up 5th in the 242 lb. class with a total lift of 1585. He accomplished this by only getting 3 lifts on the day, his opener on squat and bench then his last lift on deadlift.
“Ashton did a great job of continuing to fight through some things that weren't going our way early in the day,” said coach Cody Hogan.
He squatted 610 and benched 385 putting him in 10th place when he started deadlift. His opening pull would have moved him past 4 lifters, but it slipped out of his right hand before he could lock out resulting in a missed lift.
The competitor that he needed to pass got his second lift at 510, which meant Smith would now have to pull 590 to beat him. His best deadlift this year was 555 at one of the invitationals.
Even though he missed the first lift, after the current 5th place lifter got his 510 we went ahead and moved to 590.
He was redlighted on his second attempt by two of the three judges, one said his knee wasn't locked out and the other said that he hitched the bar. Once the 5th place lifter missed his third attempt we were in a pull for 5th or bomb out scenario.
He went for his third lift and made it look easier than his opener. He tied the other lifter's total lifts, but since he weighed in lighter on Friday evening he got the 5th place medal.
Smith is the first lifter, boys or girls, that has competed at the state meet and come back with a medal.
“I was very proud of his ability to overcome the rough start to the day and finish his senior year of lifting on a good note,” stated Hogan.