When Cierra Crusoe was encouraged to try powerlifting by coaches at Columbus High School, she had a natural reaction.”
“What is powerlifting?” she recalled asking.
Her parents also had a natural reaction.
“When I asked my parents about it, they were like, ‘No! Totally no,” Crusoe said. “But then my dad was like, it might be a good experience for her, but my mom didn’t want me to do it. But I did it anyway.”
Mom’s fear wasn’t unusual among parents of potential high school athletes: “She thought I would get hurt,” Crusoe said. “But I’m not the average-sized girl, so it worked out.”
Crusoe is a big, strong junior, who looks like the thrower on the track and field team that she is. But joining her Thursday at the fieldhouse at Columbus High School Sports Complex was the 5-foot, 109-pound Delaniee Blair, looking more gymnast than powerlifter and appearing even smaller next to Crusoe.
But Blair is also a powerlifter, and she will be joining Crusoe on Friday at Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson for the championships after qualifying last week.
Powerlifters are broken down into 12 weight classes, and each of the Columbus competitors excelled last week at the North State Championships. Crusoe, who also qualified for the state meet last year, finished first with total weight of 1,005 pounds, setting region meet records in all three events — squat, bench and deadlift — and tying the state record in deadlift.
Blair, a first-time qualifier, finished third in her class with total weight of 435 pounds.
Blair was surprised she qualified for the state meet, and Columbus coach Tyler Armistad was a bit surprised as well.
“I wasn’t expecting it, but she’s a fighter, and that’s the biggest thing that I really love about her, both of them really,” Armistad said. “Delannie just surprises everybody each and every time she picks something up. But she’s a fighter. I love that.”
Blair more or less stumbled into powerlifting. A manager for the track and field team, she was in the weight room one day and walked out a powerlifter.
“I walked over to where Coach T was, and I was just playing around: ‘Coach T, let me try to do this, let me do this,’” she remembered. “So I picked it up, and he was like, “Oh, yeah, you’re doing it. You’re doing it, no question about it, Him and coach (Marcus) Johnson were in there that day, and they were so impressed, and they were, “You have to do it.”
Armistad’s approach is very simple.
“At the end of the day, it goes back to the kind of slogan we use every day: It’s just lifting,” Armistad said. “It’s not about experience. It’s just taking the time and not thinking about it and just lifting. I’m very impressed and proud of both of them, no matter what happens tomorrow.”
While the North meet gave Blair a taste of big-event competition, Crusoe knows exactly what to expect in Jackson.
“Last year, I did good, but I got DQ’d in the second round, which is the bench press,” Crusoe said. “I couldn’t keep it still. But it was a good experience.”
“Last year with Cierra, her first year, she was a little nervous, but I think she’s a little more locked in now,” Armistad said. “And she understands the task at hand.”
In many respects, it will be a different Crusoe in Jackson the second time around.
“Last year deadlift was my favorite, and at the beginning when I started back this year it was my favorite,” she said. “But now I’m more comfortable in my bench. I got so much better in my bench.”
Keep in mind Crusoe just tied the state record in deadlift.
Armistad said the common notion that powerlifting is all about strength is mistaken.
“It’s not just strength, but to be able to execute and do the commands as called,” he said. “In squat, it’s squat, rack; in bench it’s bench, press, rack. It’s definitely a lot of being able to follow instructions and just executing.”
But strength certainly helps, and Crusoe said powerlifting has helped with her discus and shot put during track and field season. But for Blair, powerlifting has to have its own reward, because it doesn’t have much correlation to her other sport.
“I play volleyball,” she said, another surprise as many volleyball players are on the tall side. “Most of them are, but that’s why I hang out in the back, just hit the ball, do what I can.”
Just doing what she can sounds a lot like Armistad’s “It’s just lifting,” mantra. And while Crusoe’s outstanding performance at North State pegs her as one of the favorites, Blair can go in and, in Armistad’s words, surprise people again.
“I’m just ready to go down there and to the best I can,” she said.
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