BROWNSTOWN

Each spring, a trio of football programs break up the monotony of winter weightlifting with a single event.

West Washington and Bedford North Lawrence make a pilgrimage to Brownstown Central for a competition over iron.

On Monday, Brownstown Central conducted its annual liftoff on its campus.

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The locker and weight rooms were packed wall to wall with members of the Class of 2019 and below participating in bench, squat and clean.

Each team brought a maximum of 30 athletes to the competition and was divided into groups of 10.

For members of the Braves’ program, the event offered a chance to show off the hard work that has transpired over the last few months.

“This is our max-out week,” Braves coach Reed May said. “This is a little competition to get them fired up and excited. Usually, they do better against other schools. It leads up to our spring sports with baseball and track starting. It takes away from the dullness of winter. It’s something they always looked forward to.”

May said just six or seven of his players are single-sport athletes.

While May sees all his athletes in school for weights class, the liftoff lets him see which players have made strides physically.

“I can see how much they’ve developed from December to now,” May said. “Some kids might not have worked as much as they should have, and others really make a jump. We’re emphasizing nutrition right now. A lot of our kids go up 40 or 50 pounds.”

Bedford North Lawrence won the lifting competition for the first time in the program’s history by edging the Braves’ top-11 index total 51.85-51.60.

The index is determined by how much weight lifted divided by body weight.

Braves sophomore Braeden Walker had seven top-six finishes for the Braves, including first in the squat index and second in the “big 3″ index, clean and total pounds.

Sam Huber, also a sophomore, was first for the Braves in the bench and clean indexes.

For Braves junior Dane Darlage, the competition is always highly anticipated.

“This has a special feeling to it,” Darlage said. “There’s an intensity you don’t get when you’re just lifting with your teammates. It’s great to lift against other teams and lets us see where we are compared to some other programs. You’re always happy for your teammates. You want to compete with them, but you want them to improve just like you.”

West Washington football coach Phillip Bowsman always brings his team to Brownstown Central when he gets the chance.

“You get in the weight room and lift all winter, and then you don’t have any competition until the summer,” Bowsman said. “First and foremost, there’s not a program we respect more than Brownstown. Any time coach May invites us to an event, we try to get to it.

“The kids come up here and most of the time, their numbers go up drastically. It’s great to break the monotony and see that other programs are doing the same kind of stuff we are. It re-energizes us.”

Braves junior Robbie Branaman said that he will miss the competition next year.

“Coming in as freshmen, you’re just expected to keep doing it,” Branaman said. “This is the last one. We (juniors) are done after this. It’s exciting to see how far we’ve come since freshman year.”

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Brownstown Central Results:

Braeden Walker: 1st Squat Index, 2nd Big 3 Index, 3rd Clean Index, 6th Bench Index, 2nd Total Pounds, 2nd Clean, 4th Bench

Sam Huber: 1st Bench Index, 1st Clean Index, 3rd Big 3 Index, 6th Squat Index

Derrick Prewitt: 3rd Bench, 4th Bench Index

Jalen Tiemeyer: 3rd Clean, 5th Total Pounds

Jake Gray: 3rd Squat

Brennan Fleetwood: 4th Squat Index, 7th Bench Index

Brandon Wilson: 5th Bench Index

Joseph Striegel: 5th Squat

Seth Borden: 6th Clean Index

Robbie Branaman: 7th Big 3 Index

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