Five area teens are about to embark on a once in a lifetime adventure.

Delilah Mullet, Sarah Sprouse, Brooke Sanders, Hope Edwards and Kaitlyn Painter all qualified to compete in the I.P.L. Powerlifting Championships at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino on Nov. 10. This is a World Powerlifting Championship.

All five teens successfully competed at the S.C. State High School Championship in Columbia in February, competed at a N.C. State meet in Raleigh in May, and at a national competition in Atlanta in July. The girls all hold a significant number of state and national records, and had to qualify to be able to compete in the upcoming event in Las Vegas.

Powerlifting competitions require participants to compete in squat, bench press, and dead lift and the scores from all three events are combined. The girls compete in their individual weight group.

The athletes began their powerlifting careers just over a year ago at Landrum High School, under the instruction of Coach Chad Cooksey, who happens to be the 2016 S.C. High School Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year, as well as the 2016 S.C. Physical Education Coach of the Year.                               

Delilah, Hope, Sarah, Kaitlyn and Brooke have reached many milestones in their careers in such a short training period. They each hold multiple state and national records in their individual weight classes. They trained and dieted all summer, and continued to train even while on vacation.

The girls will be involved in several upcoming fundraisers. A hot dog/bake sale is planned for Saturday, Sept. 24, at the Hospice Thrift Barn, and the girls will be selling Yankee Candles by catalog and online through Oct. 11. Customers can enter group # 990102527 when shopping on the Yankee Candle website and the team will get credit. 

Also, local businesses are invited to sponsor the girls in making a donation to help pay their expenses, making checks out to Landrum High School Booster Club.

The athletes and their families will be flying out on Nov. 7 to Las Vegas!

– article submitted by Pallas Edwards