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Niobrara-Verdigre Powerlifters Earn Runner-up at Peru State Powerlifting Meet…

March 20, 2025

Ten lifters from the Niobrara-Verdigre powerlifting team traveled to Peru State College this past Saturday, February 15^th for the Peru State Powerlifting Meet.  After all the dust had settled, N-V came away with the runner-up team trophy!  The only team scoring higher was Lexington.  This marked the first time for either Verdigre OR Niobrara-Verdigre earning a team trophy from the Peru St. powerlifting meet.  The Cougar lifters were smaller in numbers (no boys BB players or wrestlers) but ready for the challenge and were AWESOME.  We can be very proud of our kids.  They did an amazing job of representing our schools and communities.

Aside from ALL lifters bringing home a medal, some other individual highlights included:  Isaac Pavlik breaking his own N-V school records in squat (445 lbs), deadlift (500 lbs), and total (1190 lbs); and Raquel Morales-Montalvo breaking the Peru St. meet record deadlift (380 lbs) along with tying the N-V school record squat (325 lbs).  This school squat record is also held by Gabrielle Pavlik and was set in March 2023.

The Niobrara-Verdigre Co-Ed team finished in 2^nd place!  Top 3 team standings…  1^st place Lexington; 2^nd place Niobrara-Verdigre; 3^rd place Crete; 4^th place Nebraska City; 5^th place McCook; 6^th place Columbus.  Other teams competing were Columbus Lakeview, Omaha Gross Catholic, Lincoln High, Conestoga, Johnson-Brock, Grand Island CC, and Boyd County.

We had two individual gold medal winners… Isaac Pavlik in the 220 lb class (boys) and Christine Mechaley in the 97 lb class (girls).  Our only other boy competitor was Mykel Murray, and he earned the bronze medal in the 132 lb class, beating all but two high school boys in that weight class! 

Then on the girls side… silver medalists were Melody Bonham in 123 lb class and Raquel Morales-Montalvo in the 198+ lb class.   Bronze medalist was Taylor Pavlik in the 181 lb class.  Other medalists included Gwen Bonham 4^th place 105 lb class, RaeLynne Nelson 4^th place 181 lb class, Aliyah Yunker 5^th place 165 lb class, and Emmarie Pavlik 6^th place 148 lb class.

The Verdigre High School gymnasium will be rocking March 1^st with the 4^th annual Verdigre Powerlifting Meet.  The Cougar lifters are looking forward to the opportunity to lift in their home gym and put on a show for the local fans.  We have 200 lifters from across the state registered to compete at our meet.  It is extremely tough competition and should be a fun day!  Lifting begins 9:00 am.

Looking ahead… the Class D State Meet is on Saturday, March 22^nd at Harvard High School.  And then the Orchard AAU Powerlifting Meet is a National AAU meet again this year and is a two-day event set for April 4^th & 5^th.  GO COUGARS!