Submitted photo- Del Norte’s Sam Schauerman competing at this past weekend’s USPA event in Oregon.
By Ray Hamill — A pair of Del Norte Warriors have found a new way to stay motivated during the sports shutdown, while breaking some state records in the process.
Last year, Sam Schauerman and Jacob Dane were teammates on the football field, each playing a big role in the Warriors’ historic run to the state bowl game.
This year, with youth sports on hold for the past 11 months because of the pandemic, the Del Norte duo have taken up competitive weight lifting, and each of them has taken to it as impressively as they ever took to the football field.
This past weekend, both players set state records in Oregon while competing in a United States Powerlifting Association sanctioned event for the first time ever.
Dane, who was a freshman during the Warriors’ historic playoff run in 2019, set state records in his weight class in all three of his events — the squat, the bench and the deadlift.
Not to be outdone, Schauerman, who was a key member of that playoff team as a sophomore, also set a state record in the squat in his weight class, before that record was broken again later in the weekend.
“These kids, they kind of found a way to motivate themselves,” Del Norte head coach Nick White said. “Everybody’s looking for a ‘game day’ right now, and they found their ‘game day.’”
Many of the Del Norte players have been working out together during the shutdown, either in restricted team outdoor conditioning, or on their own.
But Schauerman and Dane, who play along the offensive and defensive lines, have taken it to a whole new level, opting to enter the USPA event as a way to find some competition.
“They decided to take on that challenge,” White said, adding that they have been busy training specifically for it for the past couple of months.
Submitted photo – Del Norte’s Jacob Dane in action over the weekend.
Schauerman competed in the 16-17 age group, 275-pound class and set the Oregon state record with 508 pounds in the squat.
He also had lifts of 272.5 in the bench and 468 in the deadlift
Dane, meanwhile, competed in the 13-15 age group, 242-275 pound class, setting record marks of 363 (squat), 237 (bench) and 463 (deadlift).
While they have enjoyed the competitive weight lifting experience, both players are expected to be back in the trenches for the Warriors if they get to play this spring.
And White remains optimistic they will see some sort of a season.
“It looks as good as it ever has right now,” he said in regard to a possible lift on the shutdown. “I’m trying to be optimistic. Any season is better than no season.”
The weekend weight lifting event was held in Corvallis.
