Our powerlifting team won the jackpot at the Las Vegas, Nevada World Bench Press and Deadlift Championships for the third consecutive year in a row and brought back 33 gold medals to Montverde Academy. The six-day tournament was hosted by the World Association of Benchers and Dead Lifters (WABDL) and all of our MVA athletes that competed in the tournament earned a medal in each of their lifting events.

"I'm really proud of all our athletes," said coach Eric Pauli. "They trained hard everyday to get the results that they have achieved in this sport."

Senior student-athlete Yudai Katsumata broke the 18 - 19 (age group) WABDL single ply push and pull world record, formerly held by Vijay Manlit, lifting a total 959.0 lbs. with a bench press of 391.5 lbs. and 567.5 lbs. deadlift.

Katsumata went up against Marcos Garza who was favored to win the tournament. Garza opened up the competition with a deadlift of 562 lbs. beating Katsumata's opening deadlift of 501.5 lbs. According to coach Pauli, when it came down to the last lift, Garza failed to lift 567.5 lbs. and when Katsumata attempted to lift the same weight, he was able to lift the weight as if it were a "piece of paper."

"When Katsumata first showed up to the lifting practices, he couldn't lift a 20-pound bar," said coach Pauli. "However, that didn't stop him from getting into the gym and pushing himself every day to be the incredible lifter and world record holder he is now."

According to Coach Pauli, the powerlifting team is all about staying humble, working hard everyday, and most importantly, excelling in their academics more than their athletics.

"Unfortunately, there are no scholarships in powerlifting," said coach Pauli. "However, these athletes don't do it for that, they do it for bragging rights, they do it because they love to push themselves to be better, and above all, they do it because they have a lot of fun."

Congratulations, Eagles!