City’s HS female powerlifting teams 5th, 6th

Rio Rancho powerlifter overcomes failing pancreas to win back-to-back state titles

“I suffer from chronic pancreatitis, and I was practically living in the hospital for two years. I was in the hospital more than I was at home. So this is a big achievement for me, and it’s very emotional for me," said Alayah Gonzales, who won her second state powerlifting title on Friday.

RIO RANCHO — What a difference a year makes.

Last year, Rio Rancho and Cleveland finished 1-2 in the girls’ Class 5A state powerlifting competition. The Rams had been second and the Storm were third in 2023, with Centennial ruling as team champ.

On Friday, April 4, the Storm girls were fifth and the Rams girls sixth at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and National Electrical Contractors Association State Powerlifting Championships.

The newest sport for the NMAA, with three events (bench press, dead lift and squat) for a dozen weight divisions, has made giant strides. The event began as an activity with a virtual-only start and just seven participating teams in 2021, thanks to the pandemic.

The next season, with just one division for the ladies, Class 3A Lovington ruled, with Cleveland second, Silver third and the Rams in fourth.

Each scored 16 total points, but Cleveland was fifth via a tiebreaker: Both city teams had a champion and a runner-up, but CHS’s’ two fourth-place finishers gave them an advantage over the Rams, who had a fourth- and two fifth-place finishers.

The state powerlifting was held in the Rio Rancho Events Center for the second year in a row, but don’t think that venue has any sense of “home field” advantage. Down on the floor, hefting weights, the focus is on the bar, and with several competitors on the floor at once, it’s hard to determine when the cheers are for you.

Cleveland went into the competition with five female qualifiers; Rio Rancho had eight females.

Co-coach Rocky Ramirez knew it’d be an uphill battle.

“Out of the eight girls (previously it was 12), we had only five returning (from 2024),” he said, “so we were rebuilding our program with fresh faces this year.”

Alamogordo, with 31 points, won the Class 5A competition. Volcano Vista (27) was second, followed by Carlsbad (21), Atrisco Heritage Academy (20) and the Storm and Rams.

Here’s how the city’s delegation finished, with total poundage in parentheses

132-pound Affinity Archuleta (690) out-pointed her division and was CHS’s lone individual champ; Rams’ heavyweight Alayah Gonzales (875), back at 259 — where she was a champ as a freshman in 2024 — repeated for RRHS.

97-Kim Dobbs (445) was the runner-up for the Storm; 198-pound senior Tarynn Cruz (765) was the Rams’ second-place finisher and on the podium for the third year in a row.

148-Sierra Reza (625) and 198-Millicent Lyman (705) were fourth for CHS; 97-Kahlen Ramirez (405), battling the flu, had the Rams’ fourth-place finish. RRHS’s 105-Arianna Dominguez (455) and 198-Jada Smith (695) were its fifth-place finishers.

Neither team had a top-three lifter, determined by total poundage hefted in the trio of events.

Also touting their strength for the Storm were 114-Brooklyn Ferdinand, 220-Mikayla Ellis and 259-plus-Sarah Martinez. Also competing for the Rams was 105-Jade Chavez.

“What’s hard is not finishing where you wanted to,” said co-coach Ally Salata. “Losing is tough, but an athlete can take that loss — to see it as a loss or to turn it into a lesson, or stay comfortable with what they did.”

“Next year will be different,” said Ramirez. “We’re losing only two girls who went to state this year; everyone else is returning, so look out for us next year. We coaches are so proud of these kids for pushing all year long and making it to state.”

“We will bounce back,” vowed Salata.

In Class 4A, Bernalillo’s girls were 12th. 97-Miekelah Coriz (420) and 114-Bella Perez (530) were third; 165-Rayann Downing (620) placed fifth.