Six lifters qualify for national meet

The Kasson-Mantorville powerlifting team participated in the USAPL High School National Qualifying Meet on Feb. 6. 

With a strong performance, Aaron Vaith, Jackson Serwa, Alex McElmury, Josh Willette, Trenton Kruger and Triton’s Hunter Yankowiak all qualified and will represent the schools at the national meet in Orlando, Florida from March 30 to April 3.

“It was another successful meet for us,” K-M Powerlifting Coach Cori Ronneberg declared. “We had six out of the nine lifters that competed for us qualify for the national meet and all of our lifters placed in the top three of their weight class.”

McElmury competed at the 123-pound JV weight class and squatted 265 pounds, benched 145 and deadlifted 330 for a total of 740 pounds. The total was good for first in the weight class and set personal records for his bench and deadlifts.

In the 132-pound JV class, Jake Pederson squatted 165 pounds, benched 110, and deadlifted 285 for a total of 560 pounds which was good for second place. He also set personal records in his bench, deadlift and total pounds.

Yankowiak finished first in his weight class and squatted 265 pounds, benched 175 and deadlifted 315 for a total of 755 pounds. He also set personal records in all three lifts.

Laura Kosberg competed in the 132-pound varsity class and squatted 200 pounds, benched 85 and deadlifted 240 for a total of 525 pounds. While she had a strong effort, she couldn’t get her last attempt up on all three lifts and fell just short of qualifying for nationals.

Kruger finished first in the 165-pound JV class and squatted 360 pounds, benched 160 and deadlifted 370 for a total of 890 pounds. He set personal records in all three lifts and his total weight.

Vaith finished first in the 198-pound varsity with a total of 1,260 pounds and set personal records in all lifts with a 540-pound squat, 280-pound bench, and 440-pound deadlift.

Willette finished first in the 198-pound JV class with a squat of 340 pounds, a bench of 210 pounds, and a deadlift of 420 pounds for a total of 970 pounds. All three lifts were personal records and he qualified by over 20 pounds.