By Cassandra Negley
Sun Sports Contributor
ENDICOTT – The records weren’t safe from an area quartet at the American Challenge Sanction III meet, a 100-percent Raw Empire State powerlifting competition held in Endicott in early June.
Two high schoolers from Norwich, Eric Conant and Zach Mills, and two middle school students, Lily Stoddard and Gabe Blenis, set state and national records in the drug-free federation competition following months and years of form-focused training.
Conant set six records at the meet, three at the state level and three at the national level, in the 165-pound class and 17-18-year-old division. His performance earned him Best Deadlifter Award.
“He opened up a lot of eyes at the meet. He did,” said coach Tom Stoddard, who began training powerlifters in 2002. “A lot of people were asking me about him.”
That’s because Stoddard said Conant is “pound-for-pound the strongest kid I’ve ever coached.” The 17-year-old senior running back hasn’t missed a day of workouts with him in six years, Stoddard said, and has hit 500 pounds in the weight room in the squat.
“I’ve had some really strong kids over the years. He’s amazing,” Stoddard said.
Conant set marks squatting 442 pounds, benching 248 and deadlifting 523.5.
“He’s a testament to hard work,” Stoddard said. “He started out like everybody else, struggling, and he’s worked himself up to national level squat numbers and deadlift numbers.”
Classmate Mills dedicated himself to the struggle of the sport for the past six months to set state records in the 181-pound class, 17-18 age group.
“He’s probably the biggest project that I worked with because he wasn’t naturally gifted with flexibility. He’s not built for powerlifting. He’s not,” Stoddard said. “And for someone like him to persevere and be resilient and to dedicate himself to getting stronger is just again a testament to his character.”
Stoddard said Mills, a senior on the Norwich football team, didn’t miss a day lifting and had the hardest time of all four athletes but was rewarded for his dedication.
