H.M. King Senior Nathan Westbrook (center) is headed to the Texas High School Power-lifting Association state meet where he will compete in the 220 lb. division in Abilene on March 27. Westbrook earned his trip to state by placing sixth in the Region V meet held in Weslaco this past Saturday. Pictured with Westbrook in the front row are region alternates Steven Chapa (left) and Javi Rojas (right). Behind them (left to right) are Head Coach Sam Callis and Assistant Douglas Kent. Senior Nathan Westbrook will wear the black and gold of H.M. King High School when he competes in the 220 lb. division at the Texas High School Power-lifting Association state meet to be held in Abilene on March 27. Westbrook earned his berth to state by placing sixth amongst nine lifters at the Region V event held in Weslaco this past Saturday.

Power-lifters are given three attempts to raise as much weight as possible in the bench press, squat and dead-lift maneuvers. The highest amount lifted in each exercise is then totaled and competitors are ranked accordingly.

At region, Westbrook hoisted 360 pounds in the bench press, 515 in the dead-lift and 575 in the squat for a total of 1,450; the same sum he lifted to advance past district.

This will be the third year in a row that H.M. King will have a power-lifting representative at state.

“That was my goal going into the regional competition, to qualify for state,” Westbrook said. “I had already made that total (1,450) in the past and knew it wasn’t going to be too difficult.”

Westbrook, however, ran into a little trouble heading into the third lifting station.

“I became a little worried when I missed my third squat and bench press attempts,” Westbrook said. “So going into the dead-lift we knew exactly how much weight (515) we needed to pull to get to state which I had done in the past a couple of times.”

Having dead-lifted a personal season high of 525 at the Brahma Bash a couple of weeks ago, Westbrook confidently raised a slightly lesser amount in Weslaco and punched his ticket to Abilene.

“We did not have a fantastic week of practice in the dead-lift and yet that is what determined whether or not I made state,” Westbrook said. “So deadlifting 515 to make state was not a huge shock but instead a big relief.”

In Abilene, Westbrook will go head to head with over a 100 competitors in his weight class. March 27 will be the final competition for Westbrook - who also played football - in an H.M. King uniform.

“Now I just have to get as strong as I can these next two weeks before taking four days off right before the meet,” Westbrook said. “My big goal is to finish amongst the top ten in the state. That would be fantastic, a great recognition for the school and a huge example for kids later to see someone from their school that was successful in his sport.”

Head Coach Sam Callis said Westbrook’s overall performance this season eclipses his junior year.

“He had already hit some high totals at the start of this season after flying under the radar last season,” Callis said. “He really worked hard for this during the offseason.”

Westbrook takes the torch from Mark Cortez who made it to state in 2008 (when he finished sixth) and 2009. That’s just the result of hard work and tenacity, Callis noted.

“Basically it has been ‘wanting to’, you can’t just start working out when power-lifting season starts, you instead need to be preparing way before that,” Callis said. “You need to be working hard in the spring, summer and fall because if you only start working out when the season starts then you are not going to get there.”

Now the H.M. King senior approaches the final tier of his last athletic endeavor.

“He will be competing at the highest level, there are some strong kids out there and this will be a great experience for him,” Callis said. “As far as focus right now, we need to maybe tweak his squat a little bit more and try some things to bring up his dead-lift a little bit so that maybe we can make things happen and Nathan ends up getting a medal.”