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The girls squad became the first-ever from Cros-Lex to earn a trophy, plus six State records were set, led by sophomore Jimmy Fairchild with four in the boys' tournament.

In the girls competition in the Michigan High School Powerlifting Association State Finals (Raw Division) at Montrose on Saturday, the Lady Pioneers brought home the third place trophy.

Coach Mike Holes of C-L could not be prouder of the accomplishment.

"It takes about an hour to tally up the scores at the end of the tournament, so we were sitting around and thinking we could be third. Then, when we heard it, it was crazy, it was awesome," said Holes.

He added that among his 10 members of the team, only one is a senior. "It's a pretty young girls team. We hope to add a few more next year. We set two State records this time, and that is really good. The girls have worked hard all year. We start in November, so it's been over four months. This is definitely very exciting."

On the boys side, the lifting was on Saturday at Montrose, and Cros-Lex's Jimmy Fairchild rose up again. The Pioneer repeated as a State Champion in the 9th-10th Grade Division with a first place effort in the 123 pound weight class. Fairchild smashed four State records at his weight Ð he lifted 300 pounds in the squat, 190 pounds in the bench press and 405 pounds in the deadlift. His total of 895 pounds, also a State record, was a 165 pounds better than the second place contestant, also from C-L.

Two Lady Pioneers also set State records. Senior Alex Miller, in the 132 pound division, has the new bench press mark with a lift of 130 pounds. Meanwhile, freshman Amanda Youngheim, who placed second overall at 165 pounds, established a new mark of 250 pounds in the squat.

Three other girls from the C-L team captured medals on Friday. Victoria Burke was second in the 123 pound weight class, Brianna Palleschi was third at 123, and Katie Deater was fifth at 105.

The Cros-Lex 9th-10th Grade boys placed sixth overall in the team standings on Saturday as five others besides Fairchild claimed medals. Codee Sutton was second at 123 with his total lift of 730 pounds. Also placing were: Paul Kerry, fifth in the 220 pound weight class; Kyle McCaleb, fifth at 132; Terry Roll, ninth at 165; and, Robert Duff, ninth at 145.

For the Cros-Lex varsity boys team, five more lifters earned medals for their overall efforts. They are: Dominic MacDonald, third at 123, including a personal-best deadlift of 350 pounds; Bailey Maxfield, fifth at 132; Brad Seidl, ninth at 181; Jason Myers, eighth at 194; and A.J. Garcia, 10th at 220.

"Fifteen or sixteen of our 24 lifters all got medals. It's something these kids have really worked for since November. It was pretty nice to get our first State trophy and to set all of those records," said Coach Holes on his teams.

Lifting will continue for eight members of the Cros-Lex teams. Earlier this month, they qualified for the Nationals in the Equipped Division. That meet will be run from April 4-6 in Kalamazoo.