(LEBANON, Ill., Oct. 15) – The McKendree University men's and women's powerlifting teams won the male and female Junior Division National Championship at the Powerlifting Raw Nationals competition this past weekend. With 11 athletes competing, eight were able to break personal and/or school records and two earned weight class division titles throughout the four-day competition.

Junior Emmet Metzger (Lockport, IL/Lockport) won the 59kg weight class Junior National Championship from his Primetime performance on Thursday. Metzger managed to break his own school and personal best records with a 220kg squat, a 120kg bench, 237.5kg deadlift, and a total 557.5kg. Caleb Rankin () also won an individual title in the 120+kg weight class. Rankin clinched the Teen 3 National Championship with a 285kg squat, a 162.5kg bench, and a 290kg deadlift. Alora Mouyard (/) clinched third place in the Teen 3 63kg weight class division with a total of 285kg.

Other lifters that broke personal records this past weekend were Remington Paris (Mt. Vernon, IL/Mt. Vernon Township), Chazmin Maclay (), Bryce Paszkiewicz (Nashville, IL/Nashville), Jaxon Karnoski (), and Katie Bochenek (). Paris set a new personal best in his 8^th place finish in the 66kg weight class division in the squat, bench, deadlift, and total. Maclay finished 8^th in his division and managed to break his own personal record as well as the school record in the 120kg weight class with a 727.5kg total in competition. Paszkiewicz set a new personal best in the squat, deadlift, and total in his 12^th place finish. Karnoski also finished 12^th but in the 105 kg weight class where he broke his own record in the squat, bench, deadlift, and total. Bochenek performed a personal best in the deadlift with 165kg lift in her 12^th place finish in the 72kg weight class.

Aaron Sebok (/), Brianna Bogdan (Bordentown, N.J./Bordentown Regional), and Christopher McMurty () also competed this past weekend. Sebok finished 26^th in the junior 93kg weight class, Bogdan finished 39^th in the open 63kg weight class, and McMurty did not register a total but finished with a personal best in the bench press.

Powerlifting will host its first home meet on December 8^th at the performance center for its 2018 Beast of the Metro East.