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The most recent edition of this year’s Rice-hosted Swamp Strength series featured appearances by every school in the district. Each school had some solid performances as well as Columbus, Rice and Weimar all had lifters finish in the top three of their respective weight classes.
Rice
The Lady Raiders had a few top performers that helped out their overall totals at the meet, but they got solid totals from across the board to secure third place as a team. Samantha Olvera and Vanessa Marquez and Bradi Freeman all finished with the gold medal in their respective weight classes. Breelyn Freeman finished with a silver medal just behind her sister in the same weight class. Breanna Contreras and Raelee Nelson just missed out on the podium with fourth place finishes in their weight classes.
For the boys, they had a fantastic meet with a tie for the meet lead in gold medals, as well as the top spot as a team overall. Jose Martinez, Ethan Luna and John Mendoza each claimed first place in their respective weight classes. They got some support from Luis Ceballos, Zane Zbranek and David Henderson who each finished in third place for the Raiders. Chance Bogan, Angel Gasca and Omarion Johnson were the other lifters to secure the team points with their fifth-place finishes.
Columbus
The Lady Cards finished in fourth place as a team with four lifters finishing in a top three spot. Andreanna Shropshire claimed the lone gold medal for Columbus. Melanie Hernandez and Lainey Schindler took silver medals in their respective weight classes and Lexi Ybarra landed the team’s only third place finish of the day. Brianna Cleveland contributed some points to the team as well with a fifthplace finish.
The Columbus boys took third place after placing at least one lifter place in each of the top five spots. Jessie Reip and Clay Kohleffel were the first-place finishers for the Cards. Hunter Mangum finished with a silver medal and Devin Woods brought in a bronze as the final podium finishers for Columbus. Lyndon Chambers, Cullen Barrett and Daegan Stevens all finished in fourth place of their respective weight classes, while Payton Pavlicek and Adam Frey both finished in the top five to secure team points.
Weimar
Weimar brought only two girls to lift for their team, but both lifters finished with points, and they even secured a gold-medal finish as well. Ashley Treece was the first-place finisher in her weight class, while Zowie Lee brought in a fifth-place finish for her totals.
The boys brought significantly more lifters, which was reflected in their better performance in the standings as the Wildcats took fourth place overall. Ethan Stech was the lone gold medalist for Weimar. Their two silver medalists were Waylon Schimeck and Manny Gayton. Dakota Ford and Hardy Hay came in third and fourth place in the same weight class as they both contributed to the team’s total score. Brandon Luckey took fourth place as the only other top-5 finisher for the Wildcats.
