GRAVETTE — It didn’t take Marcus Adams long to find out nothing was going to be easy at the 4 States Sports Lineman Challenge.
“When I was on the bench press and I did 12 (repetitions), I thought I did pretty good,” Gravette’s senior offensive guard said. “When I saw another guy rip off 21, I thought, ‘Man, this is going to be a long day.’”
The bench press was just the first of seven events varsity and junior varsityplayers from Gravette and Clarksville took part in during Saturday morning’s competition. They ranged from individual events like a sled pull and medicine ball throw to team events such as a tire flip relay to a truck push.
Clarksville edged Gravette by a 33-30 margin in varsity competition, while Gravette’s junior varsity team won by the identical score. Points were determined by a team’s average performance in individual events or their overall performance in a team event,and records were set in all but one event.
The Lions competed without one of their returning starters on the offensive line. Senior T.J. Holt was out after he suffered an injury Thursday during team camp, but others took up the slack.
“The biggest positive I saw out there was our kids competing,” Gravette coach Bill Harrelson said. “The linemen don’t get to do that too much, and it was good to see our kids compete as hard as they did.”
“Clarksville brought agood group up here and beat us as far as a team total, but the effort was there for everybody.”
The competition allowed Adams (5-foot-10, 285 pounds) to see some things he could work on before pre-season practices start later this month. It also allowed someone like Braton Coffelt, who wasn’t with the team last season, an opportunity to show what he can do and get noticed by Harrelson.
Coffelt, a possible candidate at center and noseguard, broke records in apair of individual events. The senior ran the sled pull - where players ran 40 yards while harnessed to a sled with 90 pounds of weight on it - in 7.43 seconds, then completed the wheelbarrow drive - where players drove a wheelbarrow with 90 pounds in it around an assortment of cones without knocking them over - in 16.48 seconds.
“I just came out and did my hardest,” Coffelt said. “I didn’t really plan on setting any records. I’ve just been working hard and trying toget something done.
“I’ve been putting in a lot of work and running a bunch. I’ve been working on my lower body and trying to get my quickness up.”
Gravette set team records in the tire flip, where players took turns at flipping a large tire five times, and in the medicine ball relay, where players ran 40 yards with an 11-pound medicine ball before handing it to a teammate. Clarksville broke records in the bench press and in the medicine ball throw.
Sports, Pages 7 on 07/18/2012