Rams boys three-peat in powerlifting, Storm are second

Rio Rancho High School’s Ryan Brown, a qualifier at 198 pounds, successfully moved up to 220 and finished second for the state champs. (Herron photo)

The Rio Rancho High School boys’ powerlifting team claimed its third state title in as many years of competition on Saturday.

The initial state championships, contested in 2021, were done virtually.

In 2022 and again last weekend, the championships were held in the Rams Athletic Center at RRHS.

Next year, what has been considered an activity by the New Mexico Activities Association will be “elevated” to sport status.

The Rams had four individual champions and finished with a team score of 48 points, 13 ahead of the runner-up Cleveland Storm.

“I was close at the end of the boys’ meet,” RRHS coach Rocky Ramirez said. “We had to do a couple bumps up and down to secure places for points.

“A few lifters that dug deep at the end to secure our placing were Ronald Thomas and Kooper Ellis,” he said. “A lot of these kids were in practice every day for three months and it showed. I’m proud of all of their hard work, including the coaches.”

The Rams’ quartet of state champs were 148-pound Isaiah Sanchez, Ronald Thomas (275), Jase Smith (308) – a state runner-up in 2022, who compiled the highest weight total, 1,370, along all boys – and Aiden Foutz (super-heavyweight).

Ryan Brown (220), Jose Ontiveros (242) and Jose Zapian (308) were second; Alejandro Baca (181) was third; and Kooper Ellis (275) was fourth.

Marl Xyrone Cornblio (165) and Ben Linfoot (242), a state runner-up in ’22, were the Storm’s first-place finishers; Javis Garcia (181) was second; Brandon Pingao (132), Elijah Cervera (148), Chuka Tutman (220) and Gabriel Marquez (308) placed third; and Emmanuel Shepard (132) and Carlos Barela (242) were fourth.

City girls have power, too

On Friday, the RRHS girls powerlifting team placed third, with Cleveland fourth, tying with 19 team points each but the Rams taking the trophy via the tiebreaker.

Each city school had one champion: Marissa Cerillo of RRHS, runner-up in ’22 at 198, was the winner in the 220-pound division; the Storm’s Anna Dannenberg won at 123.

Others among the Rams’ top five finishers: Sterling Glenn (259+) was second for the second year in a row; Taryn Cruz (181) was third; Reece Cave (148) and Arianna Valenzuela (181) were fourth.

For the Storm, Jaida Pryor (114), Jaylee Gandert (132) and Regina Trevizo (148) were third; Briseis St. John (220) was fourth; Hailey White (132) was fifth.