USAPL High School National Championships, March 27-29, 2015

Many of the past Woodward Academy powerlifting championships have relied on the feats of some of the smaller lifters (114 – 148 pound weight classes). This year, it was the bigger guys that came to lift hard and bring the 10th consecutive USAPL National Championship home for the Woodward Academy Knights.

The 2015 USAPL High School National Championships were held in Milwaukee, WI on March 27-29. The lifting was split into two sessions with 6 of the 9 WA lifters competing in the morning. Out of that group, the team gained three 3rd place finishes, and a couple 4th place finishes. The points gained by those lifters were good additions to a team total, but more was needed.

Read more after the jump.


The three lifters in the afternoon session lifted better than they had all season. Hector Espinoza (198 pound weight class) went 9 for 9 on his lifts and maximized every one. He squatted a personal best, gained a lead after the bench press portion, and deadlifted 474 pounds, 24 pounds over his max. He needed all of it to put himself in contention for the title. At the end, his opponent lifted just as well and they tied in total weight. Per USAPL rules, a tiebreaker is determined by which lifter weighed in lighter, so Hector got second place for being a pound and a half heavier. Christian Negrete (SHW) lifted nearly as well, hitting 8 out of 9 lifts, which allowed himself to run away with the title.

The spotlight for much of the season was on Julious Walker in the 242 pound weight class. He came to Nationals already an American record holder and looked to continue his amazing season by becoming a National Champion. In the squat, he actually broke the American record twice. The first was on his second attempt when he lifted 590 pounds and then he lifted 622.8 pounds on his third attempt.

After setting a personal best in the bench press with 325 pounds, Julious set two more American records when he lifted 573.2 pounds in the deadlift for a 1521.2 pound three lift total. He went 9 for 9 in the meet, set three out of four potential American records, and undoubtedly had the best Nationals performance of any Woodward Academy lifter ever. You can see videos of the American records on our Facebook page.