School weight training program gains strength

Boone Bowker, who’s in charge of strength and weight training at Hot Springs County High School, provided the Hot Springs County School Board with a Dec. 15 update from the weight room on the Bobcats’ strength as of the fall of 2022.

Superintendent Dustin Hunt said the Hot Springs County School District has made “a pretty good investment in equipment with our strength program, and we have a lot of desire to continue to grow that.”

Bowker deemed the 2022-23 school year “an incredible year so far,” as he elaborated that “the kids have been amazing. I haven’t had any disciplinary problems. I thought it’d be a little chaotic at first, but they’ve been rolling in, they’ve been getting work in, they’ve been loving it, and getting better.”

In terms of participation numbers, Bowker reported Zero Hour has drawn 9 high school and 6 middle school students, 1st Hour drew 25 students and 2nd Hour drew 18 Students, for a total of 58 students, compared to an average of 22 consistent lifters last year for Zero Hour and summer lifting. 

“So in lifting, we’ve about doubled, and I think it’s going to continue to grow,” Bowker said.

Breaking down those participation numbers further, the 6 eighth-graders included 5 boys and 1 girl, the 21 freshmen were 14 boys and 7 girls, the 11 sophomores were 7 boys and 4 girls, the 12 juniors were 8 boys and 4 girls, and the 7 seniors were 3 boys and 4 girls, all of which Bowker cited as evidence that “we’re starting to spread it out.”

Bowker reported the results of Second Quarter testing from November, after fall sports had ended, showing boys averaging 154 pounds, and girls averaging 104 pounds, in the hang clean category, while in the deadlift category, boys averaged 317 pounds, and girls averaged 234 pounds. In bench press, boys averaged 181 pounds to girls’ 117 pounds, while in squats, boys averaged 253 pounds to girls’ 187 pounds.

“Every category is just climbing,” Bowker said. “These kids have bought in, and are working hard.”

In the 20-yard dash, boys are averaging 3 seconds to girls’ 3.24 seconds, while in the pro agility, boys average 4.78 seconds to girls’ 5.09 seconds.

“They’re all getting faster,” Bowker said. “Their times are dropping.”

Moreover, Bowker noted that, “when someone’s up to test, they’re all yelling, cheering each other on, and really building that camaraderie.”

Moving onto records recently broken, Bowker explained that “our record board is a little different than most, because it doesn’t go by weight classes. So the all-time records are all-time, and the current records are the students that are currently in the strength training classes.”

Bowker went on to clarify that the Pound-for-Pound Club adds up each student’s maximums in categories including bench press, deadlift, hang clean and squats, then divides those by the respective students’ body weight numbers.

“And the Big Cat Club is just their bench press, hang clean and squat scores totaled up,” Bowker said.

With all of that established, Bowker reported the boys’ records that were broken, with Seth Needham setting new firsts in the vertical jump (33.10”) and 20-yard dash (2.57), and a new second in the pound-for-pound (8.08), while Jessen Basse set the new first in the pound-for-pound (8.11), with Zane Stam and Ethan Yarrington setting the pound-for-pound’s new fourth (7.47) and fifth (7.19), respectively.

Meanwhile, the boys’ Big Cat Club added 7 new members to its Purple Club’s existing 6 members. While the boys’ benchmark for Purple Club membership is a combined 650, their Gold Club requires 750, which might account for why it added only 1 member to its existing 2 members. The boys’ Black Club, whose minimum for membership is 800, held steady at its existing 3 members, but Bowker anticipates that could change shortly.

“Jessen Basse made it into the Gold Club (with 765), and he’s close to getting into the Black Club,” Bowker said. “It’s nice to start seeing those empty slots fill up.”

Moving onto the girls’ records that were broken, Bowker reported that Ina King set new firsts in the bench press (165), deadlift (360), hang clean (145) and vertical jump (25.60”), and a new second in the pound-for-pound (5.88).

King also tied for a new first in squats (275) with Jayci Basse, the latter of whom set a new first in the pound-for-pound (7.08), and new seconds in the bench press (145) and 20-yard dash (2.81), in addition to being tied for a new second in pull-ups (11) with Dayna Crow.

Brooklyn Williams set a new fourth in the pound-for-pound (5.31), but also tied for a new second in squats (245) with Lexi Overfield, the latter of whom set new seconds in the deadlift (300) and hang clean (140).

Dazlynn Hunt set a new second in the vertical jump (24.70”) and a new third in the pound-for-pound (5.83), while Kamryn Farrell set a new fifth in the pound-for-pound (5.14).

“They killed it,” Bowker said. “They absolutely destroyed it.”

“I think I hear more about the girls than I do about the boys, every day,” school board trustee  Bethany Webber said.

“And the girls are being supportive of each other,” Bowker said. “The veterans are taking on the young kids, who are pushing the veterans in turn.”

The girls’ Big Cat Club added 5 new members to its Purple Club’s existing 4 members. The girls’ benchmark for Purple Club membership is a combined 400, while their Gold Club requires 450, a minimum met by new member Sydney Shaffer, whose score of 485 also makes her the sole member of the Gold Club at the moment. 

“Sydney’s close to making it into the Black Club,” said Bowker, who noted that 3 other girls already made the Black Club membership minimum of 500 for the first time. “The board was pretty bare, but has started filling in. The girls’ Purple Club got filled up pretty quick. Having four girls capable of lifting 500-plus pounds with all their maximums would be pretty incredible.”

Bowker promised all the Big Cat Club members would receive white club T-shirts, followed by color-coded T-shirts for those who earn their way into the Purple, Gold and Black clubs.

Bowker is also teaching an introduction to weightlifting as an exploratory class for the middle school, whose participation numbers expanded from 32 to 48 students with the new semester.

“The weight program hasn’t been as strong in the past,” Bowker said. “But now, we have 25% of our students involved in it. Their work shouldn’t go unnoticed.”