With individual champions Mollie Bailey and Mary Woods leading the way, Holden High School placed second in Division V at the girls LHSAA powerlifting championships on Thursday.
It was the third runner-up finish for the Rockets since 2019, a notable feat considering Holden is a Class B school competing against multiple Class 1A schools.
Traditional power Cedar Creek won the Division V title with 61 points. In addition to two first-place finishes, Holden boosted its total with six third-place finishes.
The second day of the four-day meet held at the Cajundome featured competition for Division IV and Division V girls.
The meet continues at 10 a.m. Friday with girls competition for Divisions I, II and III.
“They performed really, really well and I am very proud of them,” Holden coach David White said. “To challenge Cedar Creek, we had to take some chances and hope some things would fall our way.
“As a result, we left some weight on the table. But whenever that happened, they came right back and made up for it on the next lift. Overall, we finished about where I thought we would end up.”
In Division IV, Episcopal had two individual champions in Jaela Purnell and Katherine Fivgas. The Knights finished fifth in the team standings with 21 points. D’Arbonne Woods Charter won the Division IV title with 52 points, well ahead of Pope John Paul II at 34.
Holden’s Woods won the 220-pound weight class with a total lift of 945 pounds (bench press, deadlift, squat) — 250 more than the second-place finisher.
Bailey had an 895-pound total, edging the next two competitors by a combined total of 10 pounds in the 220-plus weight class.
Episcopal’s Purnell and Fivgas also won by small margins. Purnell’s total lift of 695 pounds was 5 pounds better than the No. 2 finisher at 181 pounds. Fivgas’ lift of 720 pounds at 198 was 10 pounds better than the second-place finisher.
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