Fort Lewis College hosts a men’s and a women’s powerlifting competition at the end of every spring semester at the Student Life Center. This year, Elise Chee won the women’s competition and Brandon Magat won the men’s.
The competitors get three attempts for each lift, deadlift, bench press and squat. The winner is decided by calculating the total weight lifted by adding the max lifts from each set and dividing that by the lifters weight.
Only three women competed, with Elise Chee, a freshman at FLC, winning the women’s round. Her max squat was 205 pounds, her max bench press was 115 pounds, and her max deadlift was 225 pounds.
“I like weightlifting because it showed me that whenever I fail I can always get back up,” Chee said. “It’s taught me a lot.”
Chee participated in the competition because she wanted to try something new at the school, she said. She really enjoyed it and hopes to participate in more competitions both at FLC and outside the college scene.
The men had 13 competitors show up to participate in this annual competition.
The winner of the men’s competition was Brandon Magat, who had a max squat of 335 pounds, a max bench press of 275 pounds, and a max deadlift of 375
Brandon Raborg, who came in sixth place, had a max squat of 325 pounds, a max bench press of 235 pounds and a max deadlift of 365 pounds.
“One of my favorite parts about weightlifting is the accomplishment and learning how to set goals,” Raborg said. “There’s no greater feeling than being able to lift something really heavy that you have been trying to work for for so long.”
Raborg got into weightlifting in high school and has been actively lifting weights since, he said. He wants to possibly participate in a physique competition outside of school.
“Weightlifting is just a great way to try to better yourself,” Raborg said