STATE POWERLIFTING - Gilman’s Angell powers to a state championship

STATE POWERLIFTING

The power Bailey Angell possesses while throwing shot put and discus in track and field has made her a WIAA Division 3 contender since she debuted as a freshman in the spring of 2020 and has given her an opportunity to compete at the college level starting next year.

The Gilman senior has made another impressive sports debut in recent weeks, earning a Wisconsin High School Powerlifting Association state championship in her first appearance in the competition.

At the USA Powerlifting Sanctioned State Meet, held at the Fox Cities Exhibition Center in Appleton, Angell won the championship in the 110-plus kilogram weight class March 3 by lifting a total of 445 kilograms in the three lifts –– squat, bench press and deadlift. That translates to about 980 total pounds.

Angell’s bench press of 95 kilograms set a new state record for her weight class. She fell short of her ultimate goal of setting a new state record for total weight lifted. The current record is 457.5 kilograms, or about 1,008 pounds, which was set in 2023 by Ashwaubenon’s Liz Cleveland.

Angell surpassed that record in her firstever powerlifting meet, the Feb. 10 Elk Mound regional, but state records are only officially kept at the state meet.

“I love it,” Angell said of the sport, which she discovered last summer. “I’ve been lifting since I was about 10 years old. Me and my dad (Phil) and my brother (Taydyn) lift all the time together. It’s something I can actually put all of my power into and show it off.”

Angell is coached by the team of Jason Lynch, Mandy Haenel and Adam Rodman, owner of Stronger Version Fitness in Medford.

In powerlifting, competitors get three attempts in each of the lifts with their maximum lift being the one that counts.

“They have a certain amount of time to load weights,” Angell explained. “They call my name and from the time they call my name I have a minute to get out there, get the weight off the rack and be completely steady. Then once they see I’m completely steady and stop moving, then they’ll call lift. Squat has two commands, lift and then rack. Bench has three commands, which are lift, press because I have to pause at the bottom, and then rack. Dead lift just has two commands, lift and then down.

“There are three judges,” she continued. “There’s a judge on each side of you and there’s a judge in front. The judge in front calls your commands. The judges on the sides watch your hips and your feet. You can get one red light and two white lights and it’s still considered a clean lift. But if you get two red lights and one white light, it doesn’t count.”

At the Elk Mound regional, all that could go right for Angell did.

Starting with the squat lifts, she successfully lifted 340 pounds, went up to 370 on her second attempt and hit it and then jumped to 405 and got that too.

Going to bench press, she successfully lifted 185, 195 and then 210 pounds. Moving to her favorite lift, the deadlift, Angell hit 345, 375 and then 400 pounds. Her total score was 1,015 pounds, easily beating the requirement of 650 pounds to compete in the state meet.

“It’s a new experience. It’s fun,” Angell said. “My nerves were not as bad at state as the were at regionals because I’d never done it before. My first-ever meet and the adrenaline just runs through your body while you’re out there. My very first squat, very first lift of regionals, I could feel my legs shaking underneath me and I was like ‘oh no, this is going to be bad.’ But then everything moved so easy at regionals that state wasn’t quite as bad as what I thought it was going to be.”

Days before the state meet, Angell came down with a fever and missed two days of school, but she recovered in time to get back into school on Friday, March 1. After traveling to Appleton Saturday, the competition took place on Sunday, and included nine entrants in the 110K-plus division.

Unfortunately Angell didn’t get off to the best start.

“My squat wasn’t the hottest,” she said. “I took a digger on my first one. I started at 375, and I took a digger. Came down and it slid down my back and I had to let it go, otherwise I would’ve hurt something in my upper body. My second one I went for 375 again and I green-lighted that one. Then I went for 405 and went deeper than my 375 that I green-lighted and they redlighted me, so I ended up with 375 on that one.

“Then I went to bench, started at 195 and jumped to 210. Green-lighted both of those. Went for 225, had it three-quarters of the way up and could not get it. But I did get the state record for my weight class with 210 pounds on bench press.”

Officially, the state meet goes by kilograms, so she was at 265 kilograms through two events (170 and 95). In the deadlift, she hit her first two lifts at 170 and 180 kilograms, or about 375 and 405 pounds. She went to 195 kilograms, or about 430 pounds for her final lift in an attempt to break the state record.

“I had it three-quarters of the way up,” Angell said. “It started slipping out of my left hand, so I banged it against my leg to try to get a grip again and it just slipped. I got a big gash and big bruise all the way down my left leg.

“It was fun. I ended up winning, got a big trophy and a big medal.”

The official results show Angell well ahead of the new nearest competitors in her class, Allisa Barthuly of Laconia and Addison Griffiths of Elk Mound, who both lifted a total of 402.5 kilograms. Whitehall’s Daytona Hensley lifted 397.5. Hensley had the top squat lift at 197.5 kilograms, but Angell topped the field in the other two lifts.

Angell isn’t sure when she’ll competitively powerlift again, but she’s hopeful her success there is a good sign for her final track and field season with the Gilman Pirates.

“Hopefully I can call myself a state champion in that one too,” she said.

Bailey Angell claims the top spot on the awards podium at the Wisconsin High School Powerlifting Association state championship. SUBMITTED PHOTO