Gentry powerlifters receive championship rings

Gentry powerlifters Lawrence Caro, Tomas Gomez, Konner Hodges, Mason Clark, Khang Yang and Tanner Christie showed their championship rings which they received on July 12. Not pictured are Chance Cooper, Trey Welch, Seth Chaney, coach Kaven Fleshner and head coach Sean Seligman.
Gentry powerlifters Lawrence Caro, Tomas Gomez, Konner Hodges, Mason Clark, Khang Yang and Tanner Christie showed their championship rings which they received on July 12. Not pictured are Chance Cooper, Trey Welch, Seth Chaney, coach Kaven Fleshner and head coach Sean Seligman.

— Gentry High School’s powerlifters received their championship rings on July 12 and showed them off in a group photo at the high school.

The team competed March 25-26 in Oklahoma City, Okla., at the 33rd annual NASA High School National Powerlifting Championships against 220-plus lifters from 11 states. Gentry had nine lifters competing in five different team divisions and finished first in three divisions and second in two divisions.

“This is the third championship in three years,” said Sean Seligman, Gentry’s powerlifting coach. “We won the push/pull division, bench press only division, and power sports divisions. We finished second in the fully unequipped powerlifting division and power press division,” Seligman said.

Lawrence Caro lifted in the 114-pound division and won four first-place awards and one second place. He set national records in curl, deadlift, push/pull and power press.

Khang-Su Yang lifted in the 123-pound division and won first place in all five divisions, setting national records in push/pull and power press.

Trey Welch, the only senior in the program this year, lifted in the 181-pound division and won three first-place and two second-place awards. He set a national record in power press.

Konner Hodges lifted in the 198-pound division and won first place in two divisions and second in another. He set a national record in power press.

Tanner Christie also lifted in the 198-pound division and won first place in one division and second place in two divisions.

Tomas Gomez lifted in the 242-pound division and won first place in three divisions, third place in two divisions and set national records in push/pull and power press.

Chance Cooper lifted in the 220-pound division and won first in three divisions, second in one division, third in one division and set a national record in power press. He was nominated to be among the top six best lifters of the meet.

Mason Clark lifted in the 275-pound division and won first place in four divisions and set a national record in push/pull.

Seth Chaney lifted in the 165-pound division and won first place in two divisions and second place in two divisions.

“The kids have been working every day, five days a week, since August to make sure we had a great chance to repeat as champions again this year,” Seligman said. “We had seven seniors graduate from last year’s team, so we had a challenge in front of us to win another powerlifting championship.”

“The kids stepped up and here we are with our third National High School Powerlifting Championship in three years!” Seligman said.

The team includes Konner Hodges, Tomas Gomez, Khang-Su Yang, Lawrence Caro, Seth Chaney, Chance Cooper, Mason Clark, Tanner Christie and Trey Welch. They are coached by Sean Seligman. Assisting the team at the meet were Kaven Flesner, Kong Lor and Keeten Jones.