By JED LOCKETT
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
PRINCETON — Wandering around the hallways at Princeton High School are hundreds of students, all with a unique story and secrets that belie their outward appearance.
Dalton Christian is a textbook example. At first glance, the junior seems like a normal teenager that works on the yearbook staff and enjoys many of the same extracurricular entertainments as his peers. But ask him to show a muscle and the high school kid displays a bicep that would make Lou Ferrigno proud.
Christian is the state powerlifting champion for his age and weight class and holds the juniors’ state record in the bench press with a lift of 325 pounds. The title was his third in three years and he has the record-breaking resume to go along with it.
“My freshman year, I broke all the records because it goes by age and weight,” Christian said. “I broke the 165-pound weight class. I benched 250, dead lifted 385.
“I broke those two records my freshman year, then last year, my sophomore year, I just went up to state and won. And then this past year, my junior year, I won first place and then broke the state record for bench at 325.”
Christian got into powerlifting because he harbored a common dream among many high-school athletes, winning a state football championship. An assistant coach got him started with weight training and became his sage in a new sport.
“Barry Karnes was helping out with football and he just started talking about some of the serious weightlifters and I started powerlifting with him,” Christian said. “I’ve been lifting since I was young, though and I’ve always lifted. So that’s something I wanted to do and I was good at it.”
“He’s come a long ways,” Karnes said. “He’s probably got one of the strongest benches for his body weight around.”
Christian wanted to add bulk to his body for football. Mission accomplished.
“It’s helped tremendously,” Christian said. “I’ve gotten a lot bigger since I started weightlifting, powerlifting, a lot stronger. And my legs have gotten a lot stronger to keep my endurance up for track. It helps a lot.”
His body is not the only thing that has grown because of lifting.
“Self-esteem wise, my confidence is raised a whole lot because you don’t really hear many people my size lifting as much weight,” Christian said. “Just hard work, just stay determined and confident and self-motivated about everything.”
Christian became so good at powerlifting that he started competing in — and winning — weightlifting meets. His trips to Charleston for the state meet have been memorable for the camaraderie among the lifters.
“It’s really fun, a lot of fun to hang out with the guys and everything, just competing with everybody else,” Christian said. “There’s a lot of competition. A lot of big schools are there with a lot of kids and it brings a lot of good competition.”
But the event is also a pressurecooker. Lifters come from all over the state to chase their championship dreams and fans come from all over the state to watch them.
“It’s nerve-wracking, pretty much,” Christian said. “There’s a lot of people there watching. There’s over like a hundred lifters usually. This year, it wasn’t that much because of the snowstorm and everything. But there’s usually over a hundred lifters, a lot of competition.
“There’s a lot of fans in the bleachers. It’s at South Charleston High School and they hold it in the gym. The bleachers are usually full, both sides. It’s pretty nerve-wracking.”
“If you’ve never been to (a weightlifting meet) and you got to one, it changes your whole outlook on the sport really,” Karnes said.
“You have to get ready mentally as well as physically. Dalton has come a long ways. His dad has worked with him. I’ve worked with him. The guys there in the weight room he lifts against, they help each other out.”
Somehow, Christian overcame those outside forces three times and has three state championship trophies to show for it. When Christian lists his personal lifting records, it is easy to see why.
“Bench, I’ve gotten 340 before and squat I’ve gotten 405 and dead lift I’ve gotten 390 before,” he said. “But this past year at the state meet I benched 325 with a pause. That’s what I broke the state record in.”
Christian is focused on more state records and state championships. But he wants some of them to come on the track and the gridiron.
“I’d love to win a state championship in football. That’s been my dream since I was a freshman, since middle school really,” he said. “Track too. My freshman year when I was running track we went up to state and we didn’t place that well. We placed 15th or something out of 17 teams.
“But I think this year in track we’ll have a really good chance in our 4x100 team which I’ll be participating in. And next year in powerlifting, nothing less than first place and breaking records again.”
“I would like to see him get close to 400,” Karnes said. “He’s just going to have to set his goals to achieve it — which I think he can ’cause he works hard at it.”
Christian hopes his future will include college football at a local institution where he can study physical training or physical therapy. He wants to stay around sports and weightlifting — which has given him insight into life in general.
“It takes a lot of hard work to do what we do,” Christian said. “Powerlifting puts a lot on your body, a lot of stress and you have to be determined. That goes with anything, school, life, you just have to be prepared and work hard.”
— Contact Jed Lockett
at jlockett@bdtonline.com
