CALEDONIA — The Cavaliers powerlifting team celebrated another successful season this week after boasting an individual state champion for the third year in a row at the state meet in Jackson last weekend.
The Cavaliers sent three athletes from the girls’ team and one from the boys’ team to Jackson, with all four placing. Delani Clements, second, Madison Woody, second, and Linh Nguyen, fourth, showed out in their respective weight classes for the girls while Antony Dorrego took home a first place finish in his weight class.
“Last year, when he left the state meet, he had determined in his mind that he was going to win a state championship,” Cavaliers coach Jason Forrester said of Dorrego. “Unfortunately, he was the only one from the boys’ team to qualify, but he put in an extreme amount of work. He did the team workouts and then asked for extra work to keep moving forward. His goal was that he was going to win.”
Dorrego was one of nine Cavaliers to qualify for North State but was the only one to make it to Jackson. As the most experienced member of the team, he took the opportunity to lead by example for the next group coming up behind him, an example Forrester hopes to see carried on as the last group of seniors did for Dorrego.
“He was the only senior this year on the boys’ team,” Forrester said. “They saw that. We had nine guys make it to North Half, it was his second or third time, and the rest, it was their first time. His experience showed, and he’s been a great leader for them, letting them know it’s about doing the work here and on your own to move yourself forward.”
Clements and Nguyen have set a similar example for the girls, qualifying for state alongside Woody out of a team of 26 Cavaliers. All three were members of a team that finished third last year in Jackson, and have helped establish Caledonia as a powerlifting power in Class 4A.
“Those three are consistent hard workers,” Forrester said. “Delani and Linh, the seniors, set the tone. Delani and Madison participate in other sports and Linh works a lot outside of school, so they’re balancing all of those things with these workouts. They make the time for it and that commitment really shows what it takes to get to where you want to go.”
This will be the last season competing in 4A as Caledonia makes the leap to 5A next year across the board in athletics.
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