Music was blaring and the energy was palpable inside Brownstown Central’s weight room on Monday night as members of the Braves football team competed in a friendly weightlifting competition between Bedford North Lawrence and West Washington.
When the coaches accumulated all of the results at the end of the night, Brownstown came out on top with the first-place trophy. BNL was second, and West Washington was third.
“The reason we do it is because we’ve been lifting ever since football season is over with. It’s a little competition for them after working all winter,” head coach Reed May said. “They really go up a bit because the fans are in here and the music is blaring, so that’s why it’s enjoyable.”
One guy who took advantage of the energetic environment was junior Aidan Wayt. His best bench press prior to Monday was 230 pounds, but Wayt had a lift of 250 to set a new personal record for himself.
“My goal at the beginning was 240, and once 225 went as easy as it did, I kept going up 10 pounds and I was like, ‘I‘ve got this. I know I can keep going,’” he said.
Wayt screams out “not ambitious” before he does a lift, and it’s a phrase that motivates him.
“I can’t say where it comes from because it comes from deep within,” he said. “The word ambition just gets me fired up, and it tells me I can do more and shows people I can do more.”
Once Wayt completed his new best press, he was pretty fired up with his teammates surrounding him.
“I was sky high, cloud nine, basically,” Wayt said. “I feed off the energy, and as soon as I got it up and my teammates were cheering me on and my dad was there, I was like, ‘We’ve got it.’”
Wayt placed first in the big three index, clean index and bench index. He did 205 in the power clean and squatted 275.
“Overall, I feel like I did a good job,” Wayt said.
Ethan Fultz placed first in the total pounds category and also first place in clean.
“Aidan Wayt did a great job. He weight 131 pounds and we knew his index would be good, so he did a great job,” May said. “Ethan Fultz did a great job. He’s put on weight like he should be, you know, he’s our middle linebacker. Those two for sure did a good job because they won the all-around.”
Landon Wilkins placed first first in bench, second in bench index and third in big three index.
Wilkins broke the sophomore record at Brownstown in the bench press, benching 300 pounds.
“The best he had done prior today was 250, so when I heard he got 300, I was like, ‘No way,’” May said.
Wilkins said he got up to 300 a couple of times prior to this with his dad, so he was confident heading into Monday. The previous record was 285.
“I was pretty pumped,” Wilkins said. “It made it feel a lot easier just being hyped up with my team.”
Other top finishers for the Braves were Keetan Burcham-Jones second in clean and total pounds, Ryan Branaman second in bench, Brady Blann second in squat, Cash Zumhingst third in clean, Isiaah Engle second in clean and Lane Zike third in bench.
Wayt said he enjoys being able to have the competition against other schools.
“It’s a great experience, not just to compete with the schools but to bond with other people,” he said. “It’s a really good bonding experience for all teams and to get stronger for next season.”
For Brownstown, the weight room is where the team gets better in the offseason.
“For football, this is it,” May said. “We make our team in the weight room. Basketball you need some skills to be able to dribble and shoot and all that. Baseball you need to be able to hit. Football is the one sport that you can make yourself an athlete. I don’t know how many kids when I look at them as freshmen, there’s no way they’re going to play. By the time they’re seniors, they bust their tail in the weight room and they’re playing.”
May said he usually sees players make big jumps between their sophomore and junior years.
“We’ve seen a lot of kids who are sophomores now that have gotten strong and gotten faster, and I told them a couple weeks ago, ‘Guys, you are strong and fast enough to play varsity. You’ve got to believe you can play varsity. That’s the biggest thing mentally is can they play?
“But this is our lifeblood,” May said as he pointed to the weight room. “This is it.”
TEAM RESULTS: 1st-Brownstown Central, 2nd-Bedford North Lawrence, 3rd- West Washington
BROWNSTOWN CENTRAL RESULTS
Aidan Wayt: 1st-Big 3 Index, 1st-Clean Index, 1st-Bench Index, 5th- Squat Index, 4th-Bench
Ethan Fultz: 1st-Total pounds, 1st-Clean, 5th-Squat, 6th-Bench, 4th-Clean Index
Landon Wilkins: 1st-Bench, 2nd-Bench Index, 3rd-Big 3 Index
Keetan Burcham-Jones: 2nd-Clean, 2nd-Total pounds, 5th-Bench, 6th-Clean Index
Ryan Branaman: 2nd-Bench, 4th-Clean
Brady Blann: 2nd-Squat Index, 4th-Big 3 Index, 7th-Clean Index
Cash Zumhingst: 3rd-Clean, 5th-Total pounds, 7th-Bench
Isiaah Engle: 2nd-Clean Index, 6th-Big 3 Index
Lane Zike: 3rd-Bench Index, 5th-Big 3 Index
Jaren Cunningham: 5th-Clean Index
Jairdyn Kiser: 6th-Squat