Paced by two Hornets who set new state records, the White River High girls powerlifting team captured fourth-place honors at the recent state championships.

At the same meet, staged May 4 at Northwest Christian High School in Lacey, the White River boys finished eighth in the team standings.

White River’s Joscelyn Barenaba, participating in the 148-pound weight class, set the new total squat record of 300 pounds. Darbie Pearson, in the 105-pound weight class, set a new squat record at 170 pounds and a new bench record at 95 pounds.

Here are the White River powerlifters, both boys and girls, who finished among the top at the state meet.

Second place: Barenaba, Claire Holm and Rylan Heifner.

Third place: Lilly Hyatt.

Fourth place: Katheryn Marek and Wyatt Brame.

Fifth place: Jordan Jones.

Sixth place: Alice White, Zoey Vitalich, Hunter Dahlstrom and Logan Macias.

Seventh place: Christian Chaussee, Dylan Stead.

Eighth place: Carson Kruger, Corbin Caddy and Angel Johnston.

Ninth place: Kaden Pierce, Darbie Pearson and Archer Bresnan.

10th place: Logan Brame

At White River, powerlifting is a club sport, rather than a varsity sport operating under the umbrella of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.

Juan Garibay, a Spanish instructor at the school, coaches the successful program. He notes that most of the funds used in support of the club come from the group’s powerlifting meets and lift-a-thons put on by the team.

“It’s been great seeing the kids grow and mature,” Garibay said in an email. He has been the coach since Day 1 and seen the program grow and mature as well. Things started in 2006 with a team of three boys who began attending powerlifting meets. A year later, the first WR girls came on board.

Photo by Kevin Hanson White River’s powerlifting team was again a force at the state championships. Here, Darbie Pearson squats 170 pounds, setting a state record in the 105-pound weight class.

Photo by Kevin Hanson Rylan Heifner squatting 475.