On Jan. 17, the OHS powerlifting team began their season with a home invitational meet. The boys and girls teams are both coached by head coach Issac Boose. The girls team is returning several lifters from last year’s state championship team. On Jan. 25, the boys team clinched the regional meet with a region record high score.
“With the boys, we have at least seven or eight guys that should be able to make it to the state championship and make a run for the state championship,” Boose said. “Especially with our leaders that we have on that particular team, those guys have done a really good job here this past offseason. And with the girls, we have a really high expectation for them to go back to the state championship, so the expectations are set at a really high standard.”
With his high expectations, Boose has many goals for the team that will let them compete at a high level.
“You know, obviously with the girls, it’s to win regionals, win the north half, and win the state championship,” Boose said. “And I think we have had a great group of girls throughout about four or five years that can get the job done. Now with our boys we have the same expectation, we won regionals last year, and we came in second place in north half, so my expectation for the boys is to win both regionals and north half, then go on to place high if not win the state championship.”
Powerlifting requires a specific type of training that other sports might not have. Boose explains the process of what he does to help make the team better.
“I go and look at our core lifts, our bench press, our squat, and our deadlift, to see how strong they are in that particular area,” Boose said. “And of course, I know a lot of it comes with maturity, with them growing stronger as they get older. But we do some lifts that are used to increase those core lifts, and we try to use those lifts to build the muscles that come together to improve our squat, bench press, and deadlift.”
The teams have a long preparation process for each meet coupled with with lots of resting beforehand.
“The preparation starts about two weeks out,” Boose said. “We do a tapering process, and then once we taper we make sure that our athletes are well rested, we work on those muscle groups that come together for those core lifts. And that everybody knows what can get you a positive lift and what can get you a negative lift. So it’s just as much about lifting the weights as the schematics and how to do the lift correctly.”
One leader on the boys team is senior BJ Mix. Mix is no stranger to the hard hard work and dedication that comes with powerlifting.
“My advice is just come in and start going to work, you know you just have to come in and put your head down and go to work.” Mix said. “And anything that Coach Boose tells you to do, wants you to do, listen to him and trust the process.”
Mix is a multi-sport athlete as he also is a member of the football team. Mix explains how that has helped him throughout his high school career.
“Throughout my powerlifting career I have seen myself pursuing football,” Mix said. “And I have used powerlifting as that sort of stepping stone to get stronger for football.”
As the Chargers entered the 7A division last year, the competition has continued to grow. Senior Mills Daugherty has been on many teams throughout his career and understands the challenges the team will face this season.
“We are going to have some tough competition this year and especially with the teams on the gulf, such as Ocean Springs,” Daugherty said. “We’re going to have to beat them out this season to take our title in the state championship.”
