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Saturday, the 18th state powerlifting championships will be held at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. The day also marks Liles’ 46th birthday.
While he may call himself old when considering both those things, he nonetheless has seen the annual powerlifting meet grow into a premier event.
“In 1993, we had 45 teams and one state champion,” Liles recalled of the first state championships. “The first state meet was held at Madison Central. Aberdeen was the state champion that year.”
This year, high school lifters will take to nine platforms on the floor of the coliseum, competing in six different classifications for the boys and three for the girls. The competition gets underway at 8 a.m.
“I think Perry Liles has done a lot for powerlifting,” said Tupelo High coach Lamar Aldridge, whose Golden Wave team won a state powerlifting title in 1996, when there was only one state champion. “He does a good job of promoting it. It’s a lot more competitive.”
Added Liles: “There’s a lot of strong people in Mississippi. We’re excited.”
The contenders
A year ago, Calhoun City High School won the Class 1A state championship under the guidance of Mike Ray in the first year of the school’s powerlifting program.
This academic year, Liles finds himself doing what Ray did last year at Calhoun City, but in a different classification: serving as both the Wildcats’ head football coach and powerlifting coach in Class 2A. And not only does he have his team to look after on Saturday, but the entire competition, which features both individual and team champions.
Last year, Calhoun City had 12 lifters qualify, which is crucial to winning a state championship, said Liles. The Wildcats have 10 lifters who’ve qualified for Saturday’s state meet.
“We have an opportunity,” Liles said of his team’s chances of winning the state title. “We’re coming in second based on qualifying totals, but you never know what’s going to happen in the meet.
“I feel good about my team.”
Liles said four-time defending state champion Scott Central will enter the meet as the favorite with 11 lifters having qualified. He added that he liked his team’s chances of placing in the top 3, which he believes will consist of – in no particular order – Scott Central, Eupora and his team.
“We basically have the same team,” the Calhoun City coach said, when comparing this year’s squad to the 2009 team. “We got some new ones (lifters).
“Of course, we qualified 12 last year and that really helps to have those numbers, but I feel like we’ve improved since last year.”
As far as some other area contenders go in the remaining classifications, Liles likes Nettleton in the Class I (1A, 2A, 3A) girls competition, Itawamba AHS and Lafayette in boys 4A and Tupelo in boys 6A.
While you can also count on the New Albany boys team to have a strong showing in 4A – its first time to have anyone qualify for the state meet – watch out for the New Albany girls in the Class II competition. The Lady Bulldogs have six lifters who have qualified.
Lafayette had eight lifters – more than any other Northeast Mississippi school – qualify to compete.
Although these teams may stand an outside shot of winning due to their total number of lifters that qualified for the state meet, Liles said he likes these teams to put up some decent numbers on Saturday.
Added Aldridge, whose Tupelo team finished fourth in its classification last year: “You never know what will happen at the state meet. You go and do the best you can.”
Contact John Wilbert at 678-1572 or john.wilbert@djournal.com