CHHS claims fifth-straight lifting title

Published 9:57 pm Wednesday, April 6, 2011

In any competition, no matter the sport, there is always a winner and a loser.

For the past five years, in one particular sporting event, it has been Charles Henderson who has come out on top each and every single time.

Over the weekend, the annual state weightlifting competition was held at CHHS and just like the four previous years, it was the Trojans who finished atop the pedestal in class 5A.

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And even though the event called up the strengths of the individual athletes, it was a collective effort that helped secure the newest state title in the eyes of coach Hugh Fountain.

“This was our fifth year in a row winning it,” he said earlier this week.

“And I think with this year, we won a little differently. We had a lot of guys do well individually, as far as winners. There were 19 weight classes and we had 11 guys win. It’s hard to say who had the most outstanding day since everyone did well.”

Three participants that stood out for the Trojans were Reggie Bryant, Derrius Bean and Louis Schrieber.

Bryant had the best bench press of the day, going for 300 pounds, while Bean had the best squat at 510 pounds and Schrieber finished with the best power with 300 pounds.

Schrieber’s performance tied a state record for the 205-pound class.

While Fountain acknowledged that those three athletes each did very well, he was impressed with how every Trojan performed at the meet.

It’s those impressive performances that not only show up in weightlifting competitions, but also in the other sports the student-athletes compete in.

“The state meet has really helped us out a lot because it has our guys really working hard during the off-season to get to the point of competing in this meet,” Fountain said.

“They have done a good job of competing and trying to get better. This year was really won of our better years in scoring too.”

The list of winners from the different categories are, Greg Ocampo in the 81-pound class, Kalil Walker in the 98-pound class, Deshawn Miller in the 105-pound class, Will Young in the 114-pound class, Keon Berry in the 123-pound class, Josey Green in the 132-pound class, Tre Bryant in the 148-pound class, Trey Collins in the 158-pound class, Courtney Downing in the 165-pound class, Quintus Moss in the 181-pound class, Anthony Siler in the 198-pound class and Ronnell Moore in the 242-pound class.

Derrius Bean finished runner up in the in the 258-pound class and Louis Schrieber in the 205-pound class while Quint Bogans, Tobias Youngblood, Jhakyndell Johnson, Patrick Fuller, Ernext Downing, Detorian Green, Tree Youngblood and Sherrod Postall also finished runner ups in the respective categories.

The Super Heavy Weight class winner was Reggie Bryant.

“Weight lifting is not a sanctioned sport in the state of Alabama,” Fountain said, “but in everything (the athletes at Charles Henderson) do, they want to compete well.

“It is always according to who your competition is, in everything you do. The perspective is, (the athletes at Charles Henderson) are able to hold their own with people in each of the events that we do, whether it is weightlifting or something else. When you look at our kids, a lot of them are good athletes because they spend a lot of time in the weight room and it shows up when our kids go into competition.”

Charles Henderson high schoolers and middle schoolers were not the only ones that had a good showing Saturday afternoon, as there were several Goshen High School athletes competing as well.

Renaldo Jackson finished runner-up in the 81-pound class, while Josie Rodriquez, Quint Bogans, and Carlton Bean finished runner up in the 98-pound, 105-pound and 148-pound classes, respectively.