K-M girls powerlifting captures state championship

While the sport of powerlifting is beginning to grow nationally, it’s still a sport that’s in its infancy when it comes to high school competition in Minnesota. The Kasson-Mantorville powerlifting team knows this all too well as they’ve traveled to Wisconsin for a majority of its schedule for each of the past two seasons.
But the growth of the sport has finally caught steam, and last weekend, the first ever Minnesota State Powerlifting Meet was held in Maplewood, where K-M took home the state championship in the girls division and second place in the boys division.
“This was a great experience for us,” K-M powerlifting coach Cori Ronnenberg declared. “I see this meet growing every year and we should see way more teams here next year.”
Out of a talented field of 13 different schools, K-M excelled in this competition thanks to five girls who took part in the competition. Out of the five, Jisela Gonzalez (123 pounds), Olivia Frantianni (148 pounds), Mackenzie Edgar (165 pound class), Madi Michlog (198 pounds) and Daniella Villagrana all captured individual state championships. 
With Frantianni finishing third and Gonzalez finishing fifth in the lifter of the meet competition, it was a great day for the powerlifting team as it took home the first powerlifting state championship and qualified for the Raw National Tournament this spring.
“This was definitely the highlight of my coaching career,” Ronnenberg declared. “I have fought to have this meet for years and for the girls to win a state championship is an amazing feeling. They will remember this for the rest of their lives.”
The boys also had a solid performance at the state championship meet as they finished behind a tough Osseo team for second place.  Headlining the KoMets’ efforts were Noah Iverson, who totaled 1,146 pounds on his three lifts and gave