San Marcos, Texas -- On November 18th, 2023, the University of Texas Weightlifting Team took 23 lifters to Texas State University for the second annual Southwest Regional University Championships!
Women’s Team
In the first female session, Chris Wester competed as a 45kg lifter for the first time, earning gold with a 4 for 6 performance (26/34/60) and claiming all new UT Weightlifting Records. Up next, Tara Chhabra competed in her first competition, going 6 for 6, 16/20/36, and claiming silver in the 55kg class! Amelia Kushner became a back to back Regional Champion with her 4 for 6 performance, earning competition PRs across the board in the process. Caroline Hittler’s 80kg PR in the clean & jerk and total earned her silver in the 64kg class. Caroline went 58/80/138! Melody Reodriguez competed in her first University Regionals with a 6 for 6 and lifetime PR performance (55/69/124) to earn bronze in the 64kg class. Riley Walsh had the performance of her life, 6 for 6 and PRs across the board, going 49/62/111, finishing in 4th in the 71s. Brie Gomez wrapped up the first women’s session with a strong 5 for 6 performance, snatching 87kg and clean & jerking 97kg for a 184 total! Brie became the 71kg University Regional Champion and won Best Female Lifter!
In the second and final women’s session of the day, Emily Zoorob hit all new competition PRs in the process of earning bronze in the 76kg class! She hit 40/57/97 on the day! Patrice Hayes competed for only the second time ever, with her 5 for 6 performance including all competition PRs (36/52/88) and earning her 4th in the 76kg class! Bri Brysacz competed for the first time and went 4 for 6 (41/57/98). In the 87kg battle for gold, Bri had the winning lift overhead, but was called for a pressout, and settled for silver. Also in her first competition, Ruthanne Brock went 5 for 6 (36/51/87) to earn bronze in the 87kg class! Finally, Maggie Dominguez wrapped thing up on the women’s side with a huge 6 for 6 to become the women’s fourth 2024 University Regional Champion!
With these 12 amazing performances, the Women’s Team became back-to-back University Regional Champions! They claimed ten medals, including 4 individual titles, and earned Best Female Lifter (Brie claimed this title last year as well!).
Men’s Team
In the first session for the men, James Singhal got things started. In his first ever competition, James went 6 for 6, going 48/57/105 and earning silver in the 67kg class! Up next, Danny Kim also hit the competition platform for the first time! He went 6 for 6, 95/113/208, earning silver in the 73kg class and qualifying for University Nationals! Rohaan Saripella had a strong showing in his 5 for 6 day. He snatched 74kg and clean & jerked 95kg for a 169kg total and competition PRs across the board! His performance earned him fourth in the 73kg class!
The second session for the men started shaky with all three men unfortunately only making one snatch, but they all came back strong in the clean & jerk to hit competition PRs! Competing down in the 81kg class, Luis Leyva snatched 93kg and clean & jerked 126kg (a competition PR) for a 219kg total to earn silver! Baron Schafer competed in his first weightlifting competition and with his 95/126/221 total, earned silver in the 89kg class! Caleb Newman also competed for the first time! After a slow start in the snatch, only hitting his opener at 49kg, Caleb came back to clean & jerk 75kg and for a 124kg total!
In the final session of the day, the men’s team strung together several huge performances on their way to claim their first University Regional title! In the 96kg class, Joseph Clark returned to the platform with only a couple weeks of training under his belt since 2023 U25 Nationals. He snatched 109kg and clean & jerked 135kg for a 244kg total that earned him the 96kg regional title.
In the 102s, Jason Cullum and Tyler Villarreal battled it out for second and third place! Jason prevailed with the silver medal, riding his 6 for 6 day, filled with all new competition PRs to go 95/115/210. Tyler put in a strong effort of his own, going 5 for 6, 91/111/202, to earn bronze!
Fernando Miranda-Fred and Victor Delgado traded the last few lifts of the session to win their respective titles in the 109kg and 109kg+ classes! Fernando had a 6 for 6 day comprised of all competition PRs with 120/147/267! Victor had a 6 for 6 day that earned him a snatch PR of 126kg, which combined with his 156kg clean & jerk earned him a total PR of 282kg!
After finishing second last year to Texas State University, the Men’s Team responded with a collection of incredible PR performances to claim the men’s team title! The team made 80 percent of their lifts and earned 9 medals in the process! Most members of the Men’s Team will be competing at the upcoming 2024 University National Championships at the beginning of March in Columbus, OH!