Northern Wyoming News - Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years

WORLAND — As Hans and Franz would say “It’s time to pump *clap* you up!” Worland High School will be hosting a powerlifting meet today.

Talking to coach Ryan Utterback this will be the first time, in recent history, Worland has hosted a powerlifting meet. The teams from around the Big Horn Basin — Cody, Powell, and Greybull, have been invited to participate in today’s meet.

While he’s expecting a modest turnout from other competitors, he’s still excited to see the Worland lifters perform and believes it will be a fun event.

Last year, in their first outing, the WHS powerlifting team competed in Shoshoni and placed second as a team. As for individual results; Antonio Vega placed first (275-pound class), Brendan Garcia was second (148-pound class), Dylan White took second (242-pound class), Cody Newell placed third (148-pound class), Isreal Vega third in the (heavyweight class), and Brendin Schumacher fourth (181-pound class).

Coach Utterback attributes his love of powerlifting to his father, who was a track coach for many years in Montana, and taught him the ways of strength training for athletic performance and injury prevention.

As a high school senior he participated in the Montana State Powerlifting Competition placing third and played college football at MSU Northern.

The focus for coach Utterback in starting the powerlifting team is to help the young athletes “instill a lifetime activity with discipline, focus, and something that engages the kids even after high school.”

In the future Utterback would like the participant numbers to grow and turn the powerlifting meet into an annual event for the Big Horn Basin. He would also like to thank Sergeant Brant Knight of the Wyoming National Guard, Worland Health Club, and Assistant Principal Glen Suppes for sponsoring and helping put the event together.

Once the weigh-ins and weight classes have been set, the lifting competition will begin at 9 a.m. in the WHS Gymnasium.