“Size is everything!”
 
I’m sure you’ve heard that phrase quite a bit when the topic of athletics comes up. Well, if you have athletic ability, are tough mentally and love to compete you can do anything. This is even more true when the sport involved has weight classes such as powerlifting.
 
The Texas High School Powerlifting Association (THSPA) is a growing club sport with almost every high school in Texas participating. Oak Ridge happens to be one of them. A couple years ago, we wrote about how Lahara Stone and Jordan Myers were the first War Eagles to make it to State from Oak Ridge. I covered those two great athletes and their coach, Drew Svoboda on their journey.
 
This writing gig takes us to a lot of athletic competitons and I can tell you none are more exciting than Powerlifting. You’re in a packed arena with several lifters competing simultaneously with a busy announcer making sense of it all. I guess the only way to describe it would be to label it, “organized chaos”.
 
To give you an example of how exciting it gets, during the competition the announcer will point out how at a certain discipline and in this case Squat, a lifter is going for a state record. Everyone shifts their eyes to a 114 pounder squatting well over 420 pounds. When he succeeds, it’s sheer pandemonium. This occurs quite a bit all day long.  
 
For most, what makes it more exciting is seeing a 123 pound athlete lift up to four times his own weight…..and even more exciting is knowing such a powerlifter. I know someone that fits this description. You do too. His name is Dalton Webb and he’s just about the baddest athlete I know.
 
Size means squat (sorry) to Webb. In the Powerlifting offseason, he played cornerback for the football team and wrestled up to his senior year. Growing up, he could be seen on the South County football fields busting heads much bigger than his. He didn’t just learn how to be tough, he was born that way. His motivation to be the best he can be is testimony that he never got “Ridged”.   
 
Dalton was the only Oak Ridge Powerlifter to make it to state. En route, competing in the 123.5 division, his total for the three disciplines (Squat, Bench press, and Deadlift) was 950 pounds in regionals held at Mayde Creek high school. That massive amount of weight qualified him for state. At State which was held in Abilene, he had an off day but still hit 900 pounds which was good enough for 18th in State. This is an amazing feat when you consider he was 18th out of 600 lifters in his weight class.
 
At Regionals, he was 5th but four lifters had bumped down into his weight class from 132.5. No excuses and this happens a lot in powerlifting which is no different than a 160 pound fighter moving down to fight at welterweight. The fighter is 12 pounds lighter at the weigh-in but at fight time, he’s almost back up to 160….Makes a difference.
 
Webb was ecstatic with his performance, “It felt amazing to know that I was the third kid to ever go to state in Powerlifting from Oak Ridge behind Stone and Myers. I was the smallest kid on the football team this year and it was awesome to find something I’m good at and be successful at.”
 
To make it as far as he did, he did receive some assistance. Webb explains, ”Coach Bailey was awesome as he always pushed me to my limits. I always knew when I was going for a personal record which would be around five pounds more than my old record. Coach would say, “it’s only a cookie on each side” referring to a 2.5 barbell.”
 
Sometimes, teammates can be instrumental as well. Webb added, “Trent Langley helped me immensely. He and I worked out at 24 hour fitness all the time and since he is so much stronger than me, he always pushed me during our workouts. Trent came up one person short of making it to regionals. ”
 
Dalton Webb’s achievements did not go unnoticed as The University of Houston came calling to see if he’d be interested in lifting at UH. As flattering as that offer was, Webb is already locked in at Sam Houston State and will be studying Criminal Justice in hopes of eventually working for the government in the Secret Service.
 
Of late, we have been noticing more and more Oak Ridge athletes setting the bar higher and higher and not settling for just being average. Dalton is an example for all Oak Ridgeians who want to be the best they can be.
 
You want to be the best at what you do, follow Webb’s path. “Ridged” is not in his vocabulary.
 
Comments to Doug Sarant at doug@oakridgenow.com