Chico State’s WREC ( Wildcat Recreation Center) held their Bench Press competition Friday.

It is the third annual competition and the event is put on in collaboration with the on-campus organization, Chico Barbell Club. The competition is open to all Chico State students, and it has been drawing a fair amount of contestants and has done well with attendance the last three years.

“It’s been pretty consistent since we started, and we usually have around 30 people come out for the competition,” Said Brooke McCall, WREC Programs Coordinator.

The Chico Barbell Club has been on campus since 2015 and has been gaining popularity as a result of the open competitions that they promote.

This year’s event was Collin Baray’s first as president of the Barbell club.

“I really enjoy seeing people set their personal record at this competition,” said Baray.

The day started with weigh-ins, as the event is scored by the amount of the lift, compared to the contestant’s body weight.

After weigh-ins Baray explained the rules to all of the contestants.

Shortly after the weigh-ins and instructions, the competition began. The lifters seemed to start things out slow with first round reps in the 90-150 pound range, but it didn’t stay that way for long.

Once the contestants had a round of lifting in, the totals started to increase and reps started to be north of 200 pounds.

When the lifting got heavy, the number of participants dropped due to eliminations from failed reps, leaving just three contestants to battle for the first place prize.

Taylor Pina was the first to lift in the final round, maxing out at 245 pounds.

Thomas Lowe nearly took the first place prize, finishing with a max weight of 415 pounds.

David Capriles took the first place spot, narrowly defeating Lowe with a max weight of 420 pounds.

“I’m also prepping for a meet in six weeks, so I kind of just went off of program and participated with the club to get some competitive practice,” said Capriles.

The top three lifters all won a prize bag from the WREC, with a water bottle, gift cards and other prizes.

Despite having the max weight and winning the competition, Capriles’ favorite part of the event was something else.

“I love seeing people that we don’t normally see around the club coming and participating,” said Capriles. “We see a lot of new faces and people coming back.”

The bench press event was the only competition that the club has in the fall semester, but during the spring semester they also hold a deadlifting competition, using a similar competition format.

Students interested in joining are encouraged to reach out to the club’s instagram account or attend one of the biweekly meetings that they hold.

Matthew Ferreira can be reached at [email protected] or @MattFerreira__ on Twitter.