Nolan Metts Lifts His Way to a State Championship

After competing in only two previous meets, Nolan Metts, 10th grade Bloomfield Hills High School student, won his first junior varsity state championship in the sport of powerlifting!  Metts was already lifting weights for fun and strength building and became interested in powerlifting when some friends decided to form a team. Varsity football coach, Dan Loria, sponsors this new powerlifting club/team at BHHS. Powerlifting utilizes the squat, bench press, and deadlift to measure an athlete's absolute strength and technical capabilities for each lift. The sport is scored using a sum of the heaviest squats, bench presses, and deadlifts performed by each athlete. 

At a powerlifting meet, the competitor’s best successful attempt on each lift counts toward the competition total. Metts won the JV heavyweight state championship by squatting 485 pounds, bench pressing 315 pounds, and deadlifting 555 pounds for an incredible total score of 1355, 40 points over the 2nd place finisher. Once Metts realized he won, he was excited and very proud to win in front of his family. Metts reflected on the sport and the benefits: “It’s a lot of hard work. It takes dedication and I can use that dedication to apply it to school and life.” Metts’ goals include winning the championship every year and to finish every lift without failing one of the attempts.

Metts trains for two hours, five days a week. Leading up to a competition, Metts will focus on a different lift event each day and will take a day or two for stretching and rollouts. Metts offers this advice to anyone interested in this sport, “It doesn't really matter how much you lift, it's just a lot of fun, to watch or compete, it’s a lot of fun.”  Coach Doria believes the sport is great for building strength and preparing for other sports and hopes to grow the team. This year there were around 10-12 students on the team, but Coach Doria expects more next year, including some football players. 

Nolan Metts participates in other sports, like football, while many of his fellow competitors only focus on powerlifting. Coach Doria says it’s harder to compete against athletes who powerlift all year long versus playing other sports. Doria comments, “I give a lot of credit [to Nolan]…What pushed Nolan to the top is his confidence and his work ethic.” BHS congratulates Metts and will be watching as the strong athlete continues to rise higher in the world of powerlifting.