Campus Life

Texas A&M’s Powerlifting Team Wins National Championship

The Texas A&M University Men’s Powerlifting Team placed first at the 2015 Collegiate National Powerlifting Championships.
By Tura King, Texas A&M Marketing & Communications April 22, 2015

powerlifting team
Texas A&M powerlifting team

The Texas A&M University Men’s Powerlifting Team placed first at the 2015 Collegiate National Powerlifting Championships competition in Atlanta — winning for the first time since 1983 — and the women’s team placed fifth.

“Our team is a member of the Sport Clubs Association through the Department of Recreational Sports, and we train 9-15 hours per week,” explains Scott Dobbins, powerlifting team president. “It is a tough load with academics, but we persevered and brought home the trophy to College Station for the first time in 32 years.”

Dobbins, a senior, won the individual national championship in the 264-weight category, lifting a total of 2,112 pounds. Other Texas A&M men’s team winners were sophomore Blake Lehew (163-weight category), lifting a total of 1,670 pounds, and senior Nathan Westbrook (231-weight category), with a total of 1,951 pounds. In women’s competition, Texas A&M senior Ashleigh Andrews won the individual national championship in the 185+ category with a total lift of 1,310 pounds.

A total of 359 powerlifters participated in this year’s national championship.

Dobbins says powerlifting is a growing sport in the country, with more than 15,000 Texas high school lifters alone this past year.

The Department of Recreational Sports provides the Texas A&M Sport Clubs Association the support these specialized clubs need to compete against counterparts from other collegiate institutions at the state, regional or national level in 34 different sports.

Dennis Corrington, executive director of Texas A&M Rec Sports says, “The Texas A&M Sport Clubs Association has a lot of great student athletes. It’s wonderful to see them succeed at this level, which happens on a regular basis with our Sport Clubs.”

In addition to Texas A&M’s Powerlifting team, both the Texas A&M Wakeboarding Club and the Texas A&M Trap & Skeet Club have earned national titles. With the Wakeboarding Club being named the Collegiate Wakeboarding Series National Champions and the Trap & Skeet Club earning the ACUI Division II National Champion title, individual national titles were also accomplished within the following sports: Trap & Skeet, Pistol, Judo, Taekwondo and Water Ski.

Media contact: tamunews@tamu.edu.

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