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Lifter expecting state title

By BOB PUTNAM
Published April 22, 2005

Jordan Powell slowly walked up to a bar loaded to 285 pounds. The River Ridge senior weighed 199.

He did not pace or take deep breaths or grit his teeth as other lifters did.

There was no need.

This was not a strenuous weight for Powell in the clean and jerk, a lift that requires, among other things, a snap of the wrists before lifting the bar above one's head.

Powell closed his eyes as he squatted over the bar. His feet rocked, heel-to-toe, heel-to-toe. The first explosion of power in his hips and thighs sent the weight up to his shoulders. The second explosion drove it over his head.

His arms barely trembled.

His elbows locked.

The judges nodded yes.

The combined score of the clean and the bench are what determines champions. Powell's successful lift in the clean helped him win the sectional meet with a combined weight of 660, 55 pounds more than his closest competitor. That score is tied with one other lifter, Byron Dyce of Gainesville Bucholtz, heading into Saturday's Class 2A state weightlifting meet at the University of Florida's Stephen O'Connell Center.

"I know I can win," Powell said. "I didn't even lift that much at the sectional meet. I'm very capable of benching 405 and doing 310 in the clean and jerk. I think that should be enough for me to win."

Powell started lifting as a sophomore. He also was a football player and wrestler. But those sports were not as appealing to him. In weightlifting, there was a lifter and there was iron. There was a medal for the lifter who raised the most iron over his or her head. Neither wind nor rain could affect it.

"I played football but never really enjoyed it," Powell said. "People would come up and congratulate me after a big hit or something, but I just shrugged my shoulders. It was nothing special to me. Same with wrestling."

Powell quit football and wrestling this year to concentrate on lifting. He works out 21/2 hours a day, four days a week.

"Jordan is dedicated," coach Mike Marlin said. "He has not missed a workout since July."

That devotion came after watching teammate Andrew Hutchinson and Wesley Chapel's Tommy Edwards win state titles last year at the 169 and 189 division, respectively. They became Pasco County's first state champions since Zephyrhill's Chris Poe in 1999.

Hutchinson's name was etched twice in the record books: as a state champion and the bench press record holder at 169. The record setting weight of 390 came on his fourth attempt, one that would not count toward his overall total.

"Working out with Andrew really helped Jordan last year," Marlin said. "Jordan finished fifth at state last year and improved his total from the year before by 28 pounds. He got to see the work involved to get a state title and now has a lot to live up to."

This week, Powell will try one last time to lift an unprecedented weight - and in the same motion, to let one down. After all, he carries a heavy load as the county's best hope for another state title.

So expect a few more grunts, and some trembling arms.

"It's going to be tough," Powell said. "There's a lot of pressure. But I know I can do it."

[Last modified April 22, 2005, 00:44:19]