Brookhaven Panther lifters have another strong showing at 5A State Powerlifting Meet

Published 5:00 pm Saturday, April 15, 2023

Lake Cormorant edged out Brookhaven High in the recently held MHSAA 5A State Powerlifting Meet at the Mississippi Coliseum.

The Panthers didn’t leave empty handed though as senior Amari Smith won gold in the super-heavyweight division and four other team members ended up on the podium.

Smith, a Mississippi State football signee, set a personal best with 1,490-pounds picked up on three combined lifts.

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Smith squatted 570-pounds, benched 300-pounds, and deadlifted 620-pounds — all personal bests.

Landon Wilkinson won second place for the Panthers in the 114-pound class. His total combined weight of 705-pounds was a personal best.

BHS got a second-place finish from Ramierez Edwards in the 132-pound class. Edwards also hit a PR with his combined total of 965-pounds.

Jamaal Brown earned a third-place finish in the 123-pound class. Brown had a personal best in all three of his lifts for a 765-pound combined total.

Daniel Smith was also a third-place finisher for the Panthers in the 165-pound class. Smith lifted a combined total of 1,090 pounds and had a 200-pound bench press, which was a PR.

Zach Moore finished in fourth place for BHS in the 132-pound class.

The BHS powerlifting team is led by head coach Russ Britt and assistant coach Cullen Greer.

“I’m really proud of my guys,” said Britt. “We had six guys qualify and we ended up with 25 points as a team. We ended up in third place because of a tiebreaker with West Harrison. They had two first placed finishers and we had one, which is how they break the tie. I’ll miss this group of seniors and I wish them well. We plan on being back next year and hopefully bringing home the hardware.”

Lake Cormorant and West Harrison will both make the move to 6A next year while BHS will remain a 5A school after reclassification goes into effect.