The Road to Nationals went through Nebraska

This year's USAPL High School Powerlifting Nationals meet is held in Denver, CO over the weekend of April 5-7. The Knights are 7-time National Champions (yeah, seven!) and the road to that event began this past weekend at a meet in Lincoln, NE. Most teen powerlifting meets are open to all entries, but the high school National's meet requires all lifters to qualify before attending. What that means is that in a USAPL sanctioned meet, a lifter must prove that they can lift a minimum amount of weight when combining the three events of squat, bench press, and deadlift. The meet at Lincoln was one of those meets. If you're wondering what all those metals are around the lifter's necks, then click after the break to see how this year's team did in Lincoln.

The Woodward Academy Knights earned 7 first place finishes, 2 second place finishes, they won the team competition, and all 9 lifters qualified for the high school Nationals meet. In addition to that, Dedrrick Johnson (a 2012 individual National Champion) was awarded Best Teen Lifter. Needless to say, the often seen "first meet jitters" did not impact Knights.

Now that these nine lifters have qualified, they can focus on their technique and max weights over the course of the next two months in preparation for Denver. Regardless, they have qualified for the meet and are eligible to compete. But one thing that is known for certain at Nationals, is that lifting the minimum qualified weight is never enough. All the lifters can do that! That makes the next two months especially important.

This weekend, the Knights will travel to Peru State in Nebraska for another meet, their first back-to-back ever. In March, Woodward Academy will host their qualifying meet, which will lead up to Nationals.