By Matt Browning

Powerlifting has increasingly grown in popularity over the past few years and this year, Wichita East hosted its first powerlifting meet.

Goddard and Eisenhower were the big winners at this meet, taking first and second place, respectively.

But the results were just part of a wider view of the accessibility and availability of powerlifting.

“This was our first time hosting a powerlifting meet here at East High, so it was pretty historic event for our program and our school,” East powerlifting coach Justin Hurley said. “I felt it went well. Of course you plan and prep for months and double/triple check everything to make sure it goes smooth and things don’t work the day of.”

Of the 88 athletes who participate, 48 of them play other sports, which Hurley said is a huge benefit.

“What makes it nice is we have such a variety of kids from all different ethnicities, races, and economic backgrounds that compete,” Hurley said. “We have kids who are in football, basketball, wrestling, tennis, baseball, softball, soccer. We have kids who are part of our band, choir, and IB program that aren’t in sports, but they love to lift.”

With this being the first year of the event, Hurley only sees bigger and better things on the horizon for the East High Powerlifting Invitational.

“We ended with about 20 schools and 445 lifters competing,” Hurley said. “We even had a team from Texas interested, but something came up with their schedule and they couldn’t join.  Our goal is to get around 30 schools and between 550-600 lifters.  Eventually, I would like either host the event live and not do virtual, or just stay as a virtual event and make our meet more national based, so teams from other states can compete as well.”