Two sophomore weightlifters from Albert Lea High School, Alex Seuser and Hunter Hoyne, won their weight and age divisions in the 2012 state high school weightlifting competition on March 10 in Inver Grove Heights.

Coached by Jerry Bizjak, they were two of four students to compete from Albert Lea. Two freshmen, Derek Kiehm and Hunter Gade also entered the competition but didn’t place.

Besides winning his division, Seuser set two state records. He lifted 220 pounds in the snatch event, beating the previous record by six kilograms and lifted a combined total of 500 pounds, beating the record by one kilogram.

The snatch and the clean and jerk were the two Olympic lifts Seuser and Hoyne performed.

Bizjak said the weightlifting competitions have been around for 15 years in Minnesota but this is the fifth year that kids have been able to do it in Albert Lea.

There are only 15 students that do weightlifting at ALHS and not all of them compete so Bizjak was happy to see two of his students have success over other schools who have a larger program.

The weightlifting season runs from December to March and students are able to take part in four different competitions.