Powerlifters Head to State

by Krista Norton | March 27, 2025

Syracuse Bulldogs power lifting successful season is ending with nine athletes qualifying for the state meet Saturday, March 29 in Conway Springs at 9:00 AM CT, 8:00 AM MT. Qualifying are Natalia Figueroa, Stella Simon, Deena Rochat, Angel Peralta, Angel Ramirez, Will Roberts, Ismael Bojorquez, Aiden Stude, and Jhonatan Avila. 
Coach Rocky Castro, assisted by his wife Jen Castro began the program in 2023 with ten lifters, growing to about 20 lifters last year and finished the season with 38 lifters. 
“Jen and I are excited and ecstatic that we were able to finally go back to Syracuse’s powerlifting roots and bring it back like it used to be in the old days,” said Rocky, “We started the program with ten lifters in 2023. Last year we grew the program to about 20 lifters, and this year we finished with 37 lifters!”
Early on, they did not bring home team plaques, but this season, they brought home five team plaques, “I am proud of how well our lifters represent our school and program,” said Rocky.
If you are unfamiliar with power lifting, there are three stations of competition, clean, bench, and squat, “Students want to be involved in something, or help them prepare for other sports and some set goals to develop a healthy lifestyle, or some want to look good when they look in the mirror,” said Rocky.

 The following is the team’s results for this season, 
Johnson County Meet 
Jr Men’s Second Place*  Jr Women’s Second Place*
Men’s 7th Place    Women’s 4th Place 
Syracuse Virtual Meet 
Men’s Second Place *  Women’s Second Place * 
Stella Simon won the overall PWR ratio.

Goddard Virtual Meet 
Women’s Tenth Place – A very large meet, Stella Simon receiving her 2nd place overall medal, first ever Syracuse medal from Goddard. 
Stella was 2nd in ratio and overall weight lifted!
Men’s Seventh Place
Wichita Co. Meet
Jr Men’s Fourth Place   Women’s Tenth Place 
Men’s Ninth Place 

Larned Meet
Women’s Fourth Place    Men’s Sixth Place 
Meade Meet (February 23)
Women’s fifth place – Top three finishes were freshman Deena Rochat, 3rd in all four categories, eighth grader, Jalyn Hampton, 3rd in bench. 
Junior Stella Simon broke the meet record, lifting 570 total pounds. She also tied the meet record for squat, and broke the bench record by 20 pounds, finishing first in all categories.
Men’s seventh place and junior men, second place.   
*Denotes team plaques 
A couple of notes of accomplishment were Anelyse Thompson squatting passed 200LBs as a 7th grader. Also, 
Aiden Stude is 60 lbs away from breaking 1000 lb total in all 3 lifts which is quite an accomplishment for a Freshman!
Rocky said, “We have lifters that will do the right thing and step up in many ways. Aiden Stude, during competition, would allow other lifters he is competing against at meets to borrow his and our team’s equipment.” 
He is especially proud of how members such as Tavish Morse, Camden Finlay, Will Roberts, Steven Roberts, Figueroa, Rochat who asked to stay after the meet at Larned to help move equipment back into the weight room, “Without me instructing them to! This demonstrates our lifters maturity and character,” said Rocky. 
“Forget the medals, this is a testament to how our kids bought into developing a powerlifting community at meets, we take care of each other regardless of what school we represent,” said Rocky adding, “Every lifter there is competing for a personal record, and we strive to look out and cheer for each other!” 
“Jen and I are excited and ecstatic that we were able to finally go back to Syracuse’s powerlifting roots and bring it back like it used to be in the old days,” said Rocky.
 (The last power lifting team was in the late 1990s)

Catching up on Powerlifting results: 
Powerlifting meet at Meade 
Three Lady Bulldogs had the top three finishes at the meet, and the Junior (grade 7-9) men finished second to Liberal by 16 points.
Girls
Stella Simon (Jr) breaks meet record with 570 total pounds lifted, tied meet record for squat, and broke the bench record by 20 lbs! She finished first in all categories.
Deena Rochat (Fr) finished 3rd in all 4 categories
Jalyn Hampton (8th) finished 3rd in bench
*Extra Note* Anelyse Thompson (7th) has eclipsed the 200 lb mark in squat...as a 7th grader!
Junior Men
Chaz Simon (8th)- 1st in bench, 2nd in squat 2nd in clean, 2nd overall
Ismael Bojorquez (Fr)- 2nd in bench, 1st in squat, 1st in clean, 1st overall
Barron Salm (7th)- 1st in bench, 1st in clean, 1st in squat, 1st overall
Camden Finlay (Fr)- ist in bench, 2nd in clean, 2nd in squat, 2nd overall
William Roberts (Fr)- 1st in bench, 2nd in squat, 2nd in clean, 2nd overall
Jhonatan Avila (Fr)- 1st in squat, 3rd in clean, 2nd overall
Men’s
AJ Rivas (Jr)- 3rd in bench, 2nd in squat, 3rd in clean, 2nd overall

Powerlifting Meet at Wichita County on February 8
At Leoti, Powerlifting came home with 65 personal records (nearly every lifter PR’d), 5 top 3 overall finishes that medaled, and 16 top 3 individual lifts medals in squat, bench, and clean! Jr men’s placed 4th out of 14 teams, varsity men’s placed 8th out of 22 schools, women placed 10th out of 17 teams
*Stella Simon and Deena Rochat represented their weight class well by taking 1 and 2 overall! Stella placed 2nd overall in the PWR ratio!
Stella Simon
Bench 145 1st  Squat 235 1st  Clean 165 1st   Total 545 1st 
3rd in Pwr ratio 3.718 2nd  PWR division
Deena Rochat
Bench 105* 3rd Squat 175* 2nd  Clean 105 3rd  Total 380* 2nd place
Barron Salm
Bench 70*  Squat 120*  Clean 75*  Total 265* 4th place
Natalia Figueroa
Bench 115*  Squat 225  Clean 90  Total 430* 14th
Memphis Kuder
Bench 120  Squat 185  Clean 145*  Total 450* 7th place Jr men’s
Chaz Simon
Bench 90  Squat 170*  Clean 110  Total 370 5th place
Yohan Perez
Bench 75*  Squat 150*  Clean 80*  Total 305* 7th place
Axel Peralta
Bench 95   Squat 135*    Clean 105*  Total 335* 7th place
Topper Harris
Bench 135*  Squat 180 3rd  Clean 130* 3rd  Total 445* 4th Jr men’s
Joao Salazar
Bench 70   Squat 105*  Clean 60 * Total 225* 12th place
Ismael Bojorquez
Bench 95 2nd  Squat 180* 2nd  Clean 125 2nd Total 400* 2nd place
Cody Schmidt
Bench 60  Squat 90*  Clean 70* Total 235* 5th place Jr men’s
Victor Ponce
Bench 135*  Squat 205*3rd  Clean 125* Total 465* 3rd Jr Men’s
Angel Peralta
Bench 145  Squat 225*  Clean 130  Total 500* 11th place 
Jose Gutierrez
Bench 105  Squat 155*  Clean 100  Total 360* 4th Place Jr Men’s
Addy Salm
Bench 60  Squat 105*  Clean 75  Total 240* 8th
Brayden Schmidt
Bench 125  Squat 195*  Clean 145*  Total 465* 14th place
Jalyn Hampton
Bench 105   Squat 165  Clean 115  Total 385 7th place
Aly Sigala
Bench 65*  Squat 120  Clean 70*  Total 255* 15th
Milangela Orta
Bench 90*  Squat 85*  Clean 85*  Total 260* 19th
Aiden Stude
Bench 245  Squat 405*  Clean 280* 1st  Total 930*  2nd place
Topper Harris
Bench 125  Squat 205*  Clean 125*  Total 440* 4th place
Alex Hernandez
Bench 65 3rd  Squat 90*  Clean 80* 3rd  Total 235* 4th
William Roberts
Bench 200*  Squat 300  Clean 170  Total 670 12th place

Larned Powerlifting Meet on February 15
Women finished 4th overall
Men finished 5th overall
33 PRs
Stella Simon
Bench 150*   3rd overall
Deena Rochat
Bench 100  Squat 200* Clean 105  Total 495 2nd overall
Camden Finlay 
Bench 55  Squat 115*  Clean 70*  Total 240* 4th
Natalia Figueroa
Bench 115  Squat 235*  Clean 90  Total 440* 4th
Anelyse Thompson
Bench 90*  Squat 190*  Clean 90*  Total 370* 3rd overall
Chaz Simon
Bench 100*  Squat 175*  Clean 115*  Total 390* 4th overall
Topper Harris
Bench 140*  Squat 225*  Clean 140*  Total 505* 3rd overall
Ismael Bojorquez
Bench 110*  Squat 195*  Clean 115  Total 420* 2nd overall
Aiden Stude
Bench 250  Squat 410*  Clean 280  Total 940* 1st overall
William Roberts
Bench 215*  Squat 340*  Clean 180*  Total 740* 3rd place
Tavish Morse
Bench 150  Squat 300*  Clean 200*  Total 650* 9th overall
Steven Roberts
Bench 80 *  Squat 105   Clean 80  Total 265 * 5th overall