Jordan Whiting and Sam Robey are both listed as winners in various classes and they are certainly classified as football players.

I am not saying bring 80 players is unfair or if lifters are not football players! What I am saying is that people should not view a win by Trinity at weight meets as being this great thing because they have 80+ lifters and most places have 15-30.

I am not saying bring 80 players is unfair or if lifters are not football players! What I am saying is that people should not view a win by Trinity at weight meets as being this great thing because they have 80+ lifters and most places have 15-30.

 

Does Trinity get to add all of its 80 lifters' weights together? Is that why they are winning by such a large margin?

No they do not get to add up there weights. The way weight meets work is usually the top 4 or 5 in each class gets points. Total points wins. Trinity does have strong guys, but they are able to put 10 or more players in each class, which gives them a better chance of getting several of those players in the top 5, thus obtaining points.

Then why not limit entries to so many per each school, like track, swimming, etc. I know that each kid wants to compete, but to be fair to all schools, allow 3-4 entries per class, per school, for the big meets. I think with track, you can enter 3 or 4 per event.

Two or three things.

 

First of all, Trinity has a very good power lifting team, PERIOD. The lifters are very well coached and technically sound. The young lifters are very noticeable because they are a little less technical. Trinity does have alot of "Power Lifters" and not just "football players who are powerlifting" because they do so during the winter months to stay involved with their teams.

 

Secondly, with the numbers of lifters in each weight class, it does give them a better chance to gain points in more classes. They gained a huge margin with winning all the weight classes from 125-165 and a second place in the 175 pound class, that is a 57 point jump right there. How many big schools have football players (who are not freshmen) who are 125-155 pounds and strong? This is where those strong power lifters from Trinity really take over a meet. Trinity lifters DID NOT win another weight class above 165 BUT they had several 2nd and 3rd place finishers in most the other weight classes getting between 7 and 12 points for those finishes. Their 125-165 pound class lifters are very strong for their weights at any level lifting between 5.25 times and 5.97 times (Phillips) their body weights!

 

Third, I do not think anyone really wants to see these meets "exclude" anyone, this is for the kids in one way or another. It is not the Trinity players who are at fault with their team "destroying" other teams at these meets. Let them lift, I think our players like to compete against all other teams. For the same token I don't think it is right to "Bash" a school (who puts on this type of event) because it takes alot of work and volunteers. These meets are big fundraisers for those schools and if they decide they want "invite" only certain schools then that is their perrogative. They are losing out on extra dollars at the door and at the concession stands. They are doing what they feel is best for their program.

 

Celebrate the success of your programs! Don't waste time bashing others who do not think exaclty like you.

I had never said that Trinity did not have good lifters! I just stated that they have an advantage because of numbers. The same holds true on the field. 1500 or so boys compared to maybe 800-900 at other schools, a little bit of an advantage just on numbers alone.

Nothing I posted was directed at anyone in particular, just my observations.

I never felt ANYONE alluded to Trinity having "quantity over quality".

Just a general observation...to me these events are not really "team" events. There is no teamwork involved. There's no team strategy, scheme or plays. You don't even have a human opponenet, unless you count yourself as an opponent. It's a lifter versus the weight. To me it's no different than golf, cross country, track (except relays) and swimming (except relays) or tennis (doubles, no...2 players don't count as a team IMO) It's just hard for me to get excited about X winning state in swimming for the 19th straight time. It's great that we have so many good swimmers, but I think our sheer number of decent swimmers compared to our opponents means we're going to win state virtually every year-- unless 1/2 our swimmers get cramps because they forget and eat 20 minutes before the meet begins.

 

With that being said there's nothing wrong with any of these sports, in many ways powerlifting is the purest form of athletics there is. Now, don't get me started on whether NASCAR or bowling qualify as sports...