Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Lifting put to a good use

Pasco High pair, while building bulk for football season, sets four weight class marks in a Zephyrhills powerlifting competition.

By IZZY GOULD
Published July 6, 2006

DADE CITY - Two football players trying to pass the time until next season.

That's the challenge for most in Pasco County with a 294-day break between games.

Pasco teammates Todd Jeter and McClain Bryant chose high school weightlifting as an offseason activity to stay busy while gaining speed and muscle for the upcoming season.

They took it up a notch last month.

The duo entered the Central Florida Open at Main Street Fitness in Zephyrhills, a powerlifting competition sanctioned by the American Powerlifting Association.

Jeter broke two state records in his classification while Bryant set two in the first powerlifting competition for both. They hope to compete July 30 in the APA Gatorland Open in Bartow.

"Coach Dale Caparaso was talking about it and said we should get into powerlifting," Bryant said. "We looked it up and there was (a meet) in Zephyrhills."

Jeter, 17, competed with three youths in his age group at 181 pounds. His bench press of 340 pounds and dead lift of 435 broke those state records, each by five pounds.

Bryant, 15, set records competing at 220 pounds because no one his age in that weight class in Florida had established those standards in an APA event. He set the bench-press mark with his 295-pound lift and the dead-lift mark with a 500-pound lift.

Their decision to compete was made virtually at the last minute.

Jeter has been on a steady diet of lifting all summer. Bryant hadn't touched the weights, instead focusing on his BMX career.

"I don't like talking about myself, but I hadn't been lifting and I crushed that record," Bryant said. "I'm going to start lifting again and get back into it. Really, I just need to start lifting for football. That's just a bonus."

Caparaso suggested powerlifting to his football players because it was something his teams in Massachusetts incorporate during the off-season. After Jeter's and Bryant's success, Caparaso hopes to take roughly 10-12 more youths to the Bartow meet.

"I've always thought the powerlifting was more conducive to developing a good high school football player strengthwise," Caparaso said. "It started as motivation to keep kids in the weight room for football. It's a long nine months to have kids stay motivated."

Contact Izzy Gould at igould@sptimes.com

[Last modified July 5, 2006, 22:56:13]