The North Platte High School Iron Dawgs wrapped up their regular season on Saturday at the Niobrara-Verdigre Powerlifting meet.

The girls and the co-ed team brought home the championship trophy. The boys team was the runner-up.  All told, 19 Iron Dawgs brought home medals and broke 17 school records along the way.

On the boys side, Aadyn Smith and Cole Tomlinson brought home the gold, while Seth Steele, Alex Valdivia, and Bode Kroon captured silver. Zane Gilbert and Mason Stine took fourth and fifth respectively.

For the girls, there was gold everywhere, as Myah Porter, Abbie Hankla, Adyson Stroud, Carlie Berliner, Lauren Bowers, Grace Wilke and Katie Titus finished atop their divisions. Gabby Gartner, Karly Knapp, Jayden McBeain and Rylee Kissinger took home silver medals. Iliana Pavlik snagged a bronze medal.

Coach Arttie Parker was particularly happy with the performance of younger lifters who made significant strides in this meet.

“Obviously, Zane Gilbert did well, medaling for us, but other young lifters, like Jaron Race, Maverick Willey, and Sully Orr all finished in the top 10 of their divisions as either freshmen or sophomores, which really shows the depth that we are developing,” Parker said. “I would expect those kids to all be on the medal platforms next year. And, for the girls, Sophie Williams, Lily Richardson, and Eryn Korensky were all top 10 finishers, as well.”

With Nationals just under four weeks away, Parker was happy to see varsity numbers continue to climb.

“Katie Titus became the first North Platte girl to ever deadlift 400 pounds, which was awesome to see,” he said. “Cole Tomlinson pulled 530 pounds and just missed at 550, so he’s looking good going into Nationals. Carlie Berliner is peaking at the perfect time, same thing for Aadyn Smith, and Adyson Stroud is looking stronger. Plus, I can’t say enough about how Rylee Kissinger is continuing to put up bigger numbers at every meet. Same thing with Grace. It’s just been exciting to watch all these kids keep growing and getting stronger.” 

The team will spend the next three weeks resting, tweaking form, and making final preparations before their trip to Killeen, Texas at the end of this month for USAPL Nationals.

Nationals runs from March 26-29.

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