She lifted nearly half a ton; Kennewick powerlifter qualifies for Worlds

Kennewick powerlifter Kirsten Shockman punched her ticket to the IPL World Powerlifting Championships on Sunday at a qualifying meet in Kennewick.

Shockman, 24, squatted 369 pounds, bench pressed 176 and pulled a 396-pound deadlift to place first in her class in a meet at RAB Fitness. She also broke the American records in all three lifts.

“It’s so awesome,” Shockman said. “The deadlift was last, and even though I thought I could do more, I was strategic and did just what I needed to do. I can go all out for worlds.”

A former Hermiston High School basketball player, Shockman was off her top marks in deadlift (402) and bench press (180), but hit a personal best on the squats to meet the qualifying total of 941 combined pounds for Worlds, which will be held Nov. 2-5 in Las Vegas.

“I was right on the money,” Shockman said of her qualifying mark for worlds. “Because the weights are in kilograms, it ended up being 942.4 pounds.”

With 11 weeks before worlds, Shockman was back in the gym this week.

“I’m going to start a new 10-week program that I have seen gains with,” she said. “I’ll be ready.”

This story was originally published August 24, 2017 at 3:57 PM with the headline "She lifted nearly half a ton; Kennewick powerlifter qualifies for Worlds."