Marble Falls powerlifters win regional titles, advance to state

CAPTION: Marble Falls Lady Mustangs Makenzie Long (left), Montserrat Fregoso, Caydence Bielfeldt and Alexis Sprott each earned a medal at the Class 4A Region II large schools meet. Courtesy photo

Two Marble Falls High School female powerlifters each won a Class 4A Region II large schools championship Feb. 27 that advances them to the state meet.

They are Montserrat Fregoso, who won the 242-pound weight division, and Caydence Bielfeldt, who won the 132-pound weight division.

Two other Lady Mustangs also competed and brought home bronze medals.

They are Makenzie Long in the 114-pound weight class and Alexis Sprott in the 148-pound weight class. As a team, the four finished fourth overall in the standings with 20 points, three points behind bronze-medal winner Brownwood.

“I was proud of everybody,” head coach Karl “Beef” Bielfeldt said.

Caydence Bielfeldt’s and Fregoso’s victories illustrate the mental challenges of the sport. Going into the meet, two other lifters were ranked above the Lady Mustangs. But both “bombed out” or failed to earn a score on one of the three lifts — squat, bench press and deadlift. Once an athlete doesn’t earn a score in one lift, rules stipulate they can not continue to compete, no matter if it’s an invitational, regional or state meet.

“That really opened some doors, and I’m really proud of both girls,” the coach said. “They stepped up and did what they needed to do and put the pressure on the other schools to try and catch up to them and do some lifts that maybe they weren’t ready to do yet.”

Caydence Bielfeldt recorded a 275-pound squat, a 145-pound bench press, and a 275-pound deadlift for a total of 695 pounds.

Fregoso had a 390-pound squat, a 145-pound bench press and a 315-pound deadlift for a total of 850 pounds.

“They increased their totals to the most they’ve ever been,” the coach said. “But both of them are still just a little bit under their weight classes’ qualifying totals, so they needed to be top two (to advance to state). Cadence got first place because she weighed less than (Eliana Aleman) from Taylor by .33 (pounds).”

Meaning that if two lifters tie for the most total weight lifted, the tiebreaker is the weigh-in recorded when athletes sign in to get their numbers to compete. Organizers have a scale and write down each lifter’s weight to ensure they can compete in the weight class they want. Since the Lady Mustang weighed less, she took gold.

“And so sometimes it comes down that,” the elder Bielfeldt said. “And that was kind of one of those things we looked at with Montserrat, too.”

In the end, Fregoso won by 20 pounds.

“They were going to have to outdo her by 30 pounds,” the coach said.

Bielfeldt was equally pumped about the bronze medalists, noting they faced some challenges like champs.

“We really had a chance of actually getting three out,” he said. “It was (Sprott’s) second meet overall and she kind of learned those things — techniques that are very important, how you walk out and how you set up is just as important as how strong you are and your ability to pick up the weight. And so I’m looking forward to a good senior campaign from her next year.”

Sprott had a 285-pound squat, a 185-pound bench press and a 255-pound deadlift for a total of 725 pounds.

He also pointed out that Sprott is a member of the girls basketball team that was the District 24-4A runner-up and is competing on the golf squad, too.

“She’s definitely a multi-sport athlete,” the elder Bielfeldt said. “All three of those are right next to each other.”

Long, a senior, chose to return to the program after not competing last year. Long had a 165-pound squat, a 110-pound bench press and a 180-pound deadlift for a total of 455 pounds.

“I was really proud of what she accomplished coming back,” the coach said. “She works after school, and she did a really good job. She sought me out and said, ‘Coach, I really want to do this.’ For her to get to regionals and then for her to come away with third place — she really improved on all her lifts. They all (set personal records on) their totals for the year.”

The Class 4A large schools state meet is at 1:30 p.m. Friday, March 20, at the Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg.