The second annual Verdigre Powerlifting Meet was held this past Saturday, February 25th with 147 lifters representing fourteen different schools from around the state. It was an outstanding day of lifting for the Cougar competitors in front of their home crowd. And what an awesome crowd it was, packed in the Verdigre gym with standing room only! Nearly every Niobrara-Verdigre lifter set personal bests, and EVERY Cougar powerlifting record was either tied or broken Saturday. Gabrielle Pavlik reset every one of her previously held school records. Gabri now squats 325 lbs, bench presses 165 lbs, and deadlifts 410 lbs for a total of 900 lbs and a strength index of 4.69! There is only one other girl in the entire state who totals over 900 lbs… Ke’ljha Hadley, a heavyweight lifter from Omaha Central. And she lifts equipped with supportive suits & wraps! Meanwhile, on the boys team, Gunnar Shabram reset or tied every one of his previously held school records. Gunnar now squats 380 lbs, bench presses 255 lbs, deadlifts 450 lbs for a total of 1085 lbs. Just 15 lbs from the coveted 1100 lb total! This year we wanted to honor Tom Hrbek and his family by naming the outstanding individual lifter awards after him. Gabrielle Pavlik, along with Sophie Schmidt of Silver Lake High School, earned the Tom Hrbek Memorial outstanding female lifters of the meet based on strength index. The Tom Hrbek Memorial outstanding male lifter awards were earned by Grand Island High School lifter Gregg Minne and Centura High School lifter Quentin Morris.
After a busy day of lifting, the Cougars were crowned team champions in all categories… Boys, Girls, Co-ed, and Jr. High!
The top 5 boys teams… 1st place Niobrara-Verdigre (52 pts); 2nd place Grand Island (32); 3rd place Lutheran High Northeast (29); 4th place North Platte (27); 5th place Seward (26).
The top 5 girls teams… 1st place Niobrara-Verdigre (79 pts); 2nd place Silver Lake (32); 3rd place Boyd County (20); 4th place North Platte (19); 5th place Stanton (14).
The top 5 co-ed teams… 1st place Niobrara-Verdigre (94 pts); 2nd place North Platte (48); 3rd place Boyd County (31); 4th place Summerland (29); Silver Lake (28).
The top 5 jr. high teams… 1st place Niobrara-Verdigre (94 pts); 2nd place Boyd County (56); 3rd place Summerland (20); 4th place Centura (19); 5th place Sandy Creek (15).
Niobrara-Verdigre had an amazing 17 individual gold medalists: Alex Motacek 105 lb class (jr. high), Danny Pease 114 lb class, Murdock MacAskill 123 lb class (jr. high), Arlan Lammers 148 lb class (jr. high), Westin Bauer 148 lb class, Jacob Motacek 165 lb class (jr. high), Reid Teadtke 181 lb class (jr. high), Gunnar Shabram 242 lb class, Praeson Klug 242 lb class (jr. high), Gwen Bonham 97 lb class, Sydney Kumm 97 lb class (jr. high), Melody Bonham 105 lb class, Holly Pavlik 132 lb class (jr. high), Chelsey Rohrer 165 lb class, Anna Rudloff 181 lb class, Gabrielle Pavlik 198 lb class, and Lillian Swoboda 198+ lb class (jr. high). Five lifters won the silver medal in their weight class... Cody Wickersham 148 lb class, Beckett Wessendorf 181 lb class (jr. high), Billie Pritchett 123 lb class, Miranda Stohlmann 181 lb class (jr. high), and Raquel Morales-Montalvo 198+ lb class. Six lifters won the bronze medal in their weight class… Wade Pritchett 114 lb class (jr. high), Gage Wickersham 148 lb class (jr. high), Gavin Rardon 275+ lb class, RaeLynne Nelson 181 lb class, Taylor Pavlik 198 lb class, and Olivia Holz 198+ lb class. Other medalists were… Wyatt Shabram 4th place 132 lb class, Isaac Pavlik 4th place 220 lb class, Lorenzo Denny 4th place 275+ lb class, Jordon Ingebo 5th place 181 lb class, and Kami Simons 5th place 148 lb class. We had five other lifters competing in the extremely deep and difficult 148 and 165 lb weight classes… Heidi Hollmann, Taylor Teadtke, Jase Kotrous, Cash Wickersham, and Coy Wickersham. It was an impressive display of power Saturday as many of the Cougar lifters bumped up to stronger lifting clubs. We now have six boys lifting 800 lbs or more… Gunnar Shabram, Isaac Pavlik, Gavin Rardon, Lorenzo Denny, Westin Bauer, and Jacob Motacek. Six girls are lifting 600 lbs or more… Gabrielle Pavlik, Raquel Morales-Montalvo, Anna Rudloff, Chelsey Rohrer, Taylor Pavlik, and Olivia Holz. The kids are working hard!
This meet would not have happened had it not been for our very generous sponsors and the help of many volunteers from our communities… Judges Ethan Wondercheck, Kaci Schacht, Heaven Smith, Monte Shabram, Grant Magnuson, Daniel Pavelka, Ethan Uhlir, Jacob Behnk, Justin Allemang, and Jack Allemang. The spotters & loaders worked extremely hard and were very efficient loading the bar for each lifter. Those young men were Trey Sucha, Joseph Pavelka, Jake Schroeder, Kaiden Bauer, Levi Robinette, Kelly Wagner, William Drobny, Justin Reiley, Caleb Krebs, and Tanner Robinette. The scorer’s table consisting of Amanda Shabram, Kerry Wickersham, Kristi Rohrer, Ann Holz, Karla Faehnrich, Jennifer Bauer, Larissa Thomson, Roni Robinette, Eve Kucera, and Emmarie Pavlik kept this meet running smoothly. Ticket table was Rita Shabram. T-shirt salespersons and meet hosts were Pam Frank, Tanya Mozak, Jeremy Simons, and Dian Magnuson. Video was run by Mykel Murray, Violet Pavlik, Zach Rohrer, and Abby Motacek. The amazing concession stand led by Kristi Rohrer and Pat Svec was run by the powerlifting parents & families. Reiman Coffee Company sold drinks & smoothies. This was the largest meet we have ever hosted in my 20 years of powerlifting, so we decided to run 3 lifting platforms which required MANY more helpers. Thank you to everyone who came and volunteered their time Saturday to help support these kids. It takes effort from multiple communities to pull off this big of an event, and it was wonderful to see everyone come together to help! Thank you to Verdigre Public School (including administration, staff, and Steve & Betty Jacot), to all the parents & lifters who helped with clean-up, and to the Village of Verdigre for hosting this powerlifting meet. And thank you to everyone who came out to cheer on these hard-working lifters!
Our next powerlifting meet is the Class D State Meet March 25th at Harvard High School. We then have the Orchard AAU Powerlifting Meet Saturday, April 1st at the Orchard school gym. This is a sanctioned meet with lifters eligible to set AAU state & American records. That meet will be another large meet and fun day of lifting!
Go Cougars!
Coach Shabram
Here are our local sponsors…
2023 Niobrara-Verdigre Powerlifting Sponsors
Tom’s Family Foods
Verdigre Vánoce
Bohemian One Stop
Moody Motor Company
Verdigre Farm Service
Pinnacle Bank
Bank of Hartington – Niobrara
The Verdigre Eagle
Pease General Store
Sportsmen’s – Niobrara
ReNew Salon
Herbert Feed & Grain
Verdigre Collision Repair
Sucha Repair
Reiman Coffee Company
Schreier’s Lumber
Jedlicka’s Hardware Hank
Brunswick State Bank
Mossy Oak Properties/Big Red Car Wash & Storage
Ryan & Shannon Vesely
Sonder Well
N & B Gas
The Main Spot
Niobrara Trading Post
4/11 Bar & Grill
Verdigre Booster Club
Around the Horn Sportscards
Simons Trucking & Pumping
Jack & Karen Allemang
Monte & Rita Shabram
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