By Glen Rosales
Special to the SUN

In looking at the Escalante power lifting results from this past weekend, projecting forward might be the best strategy as a couple of Lobo freshmen dipped their feet into the state meet morass and came away with strong results.

Darian Ulibarri, in his second state appearance, finished fourth in the 114 lb. weight class in 1A-3A at the Rio Rancho Event Center and set personal records in two of the three disciplines, while equaling a best in the other, as he finished with 580 lbs. lifted, 20 lbs. more than his previous best.

“A 20-pound increase for a guy who weighs 105 pounds, that’s a lot,” Escalante coach Earl Martinez said. “We had some target numbers for them and Darian matched exactly what we wanted.”

That should have been good enough for a podium post, but his competitors came up with a couple of big lifts themselves.

“That target number would have put him on the podium second or third, but the two guys ahead of him pulled a dead lift that they hadn’t even got close to all year,” Martinez said. “So we couldn’t ask for much more. Darian didn’t have much left in the tank. He gave every bit of effort that he could possibly give.”

But Ulibarri already is showing the characteristics of a future champion, Martinez said, especially since he was just 10 lbs. out of third and 40 out of first.

“He’s only a freshman, but the way he’s going, he’ll be in the same weight class the rest of his career,” Martinez said. “He’s still 10 pounds from maxing out in his weight. He was sixth last year and fourth this year and was right there in the running.”

The plan is to keep right on working out to make a push going into next season, the coach said.

“We’ll do some off-season meets, keep him focused,” Martinez said. “He’ll get the numbers. The more he competes, the better he’ll get.”

On the girls side, Brooke Pacheco did not score a point in the heavyweight class, but her trajectory is almost scary, Martinez said after seeing her post significant gains all season that continued right through the state meet.

After hitting her best weight in her final meet, the coach was hoping for something similar at state.

“Brooke, she’s been consistent,” Martinez said. “Her first meet, she went 350, then 410 and 460 at the Last Chance meet so we were hoping to get close to that, somewhere in that area. She ended up going beyond expectations.”

Pacheco lifted 515 lbs. with personal bests on each discipline.

“I’m very happy that she did that,” Martinez said. “She was real close to getting in the top five, just 25 pounds from getting that fifth-place spot. She came in (seeded) eighth and left sixth. That’s exciting. We don’t even know where her full potential is.”

Pacheco actually may have been able to go a bit higher, but she scratched on one of her first dead lifts and after a little coaching, was able to handle 245 lbs. with aplomb on her final lift.

“Sometimes she goes too fast and we had to tell her to slow down,” Martinez said. “Dead lift is very methodical. It’s not an explosive lift. And she easily got 245. It’s all about learning since it’s her first year ever in power lifting, first year at state. But the fact is she’s coachable and so eager to learn. She really listens to the coaches.”

Martinez, who works in Los Alamos, credited his staff with making the athletes better.

“My staff had valuable insight and as a team, together we came up with the numbers and formulated those goals,” he said. “And the kids knocked it out of the park. I couldn’t do it without the staff. It’s good to know you have a staff you can depend on. We’re all on the same page. Same ideas.”