Dynasty Continues: Lutcher’s girls extend streak to 18 straight state powerlifting titles

by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

The wheels are already spinning in the head of Lutcher co-head girls powerlifting coach Jon Magendie. Along with his wife Kelly, together they enjoyed the 18th straight state championship by the Lady Bulldogs over the weekend, but they will start to give serious consideration about how the pieces will fit next season and where the direction of the competition will come from.

“I’m already thinking about it and who I’m going to fill gaps with,” Magendie said. “In the next week to 10 days, I’ll analyze the workouts we did and the results we had over the year and look at other people’s results.”

Magendie said there will be a respite of upwards to two weeks before next year’s team will begin work on maintaining the school’s powerlifting dynasty that began in 2007 with the first of 18 consecutive state crowns. Kelly Magendie took over the program, while Jon, who had worked at several other schools, helped to coach and create the mantra: ‘Don’t let it be you, don’t let it be your year where we don’t step up and get this thing done.’

“We remind them of that,” Magendie said.

With the exception of the 2020 state championships that were canceled because of the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, Lutcher has maintained a standard of excellence that’s been more a motivating factor than a deterrent.

Magendie’s ambition is to reach the bar established by Alexandria Senior High’s run of 19 straight state titles and 22 overall.

“That’s my goal,” he said.

Lutcher piled up 62 points to capture the team championship, fending off stern competition from Grant (44 points), and St. Scholastica (22 points).

“Hats off to our competitors,” Magendie said. “This was a very competitive state meet. A lot of them really stepped their game up from regionals to what they did at state. It was tough.”

For only the third time in school history, and first, since 2021, Lutcher swept both the boys’ and girls’ state titles. The Magendie’s son Nicholas, a sophomore, was a state runner-up at super heavyweight (1,430 pounds).

A year after graduating eight seniors from a team that won seven individual championships, Lutcher won six individual titles in 11 different weight categories.

Freshman Avery St. Pierre, who won the 132-pound state title, was named the Most Outstanding Lifter in the lighter weight classes with a total of 820 pounds. Her 340-pound deadlift was 30 pounds off the composite record of 370.

“I had to replace all of them, and I was senior-heavy again this year,” Magendie said. “Being a senior is not going to get you a spot. We had a lot of seniors that were in the best position to go and score some points. We have a tough road to hoe. We have to replace those seniors and do this thing again next year.”

Tanae Martin, who was seeded second, was one of two seniors who gave Lutcher individual state championships with a total of 760 pounds at 123 pounds. Top-seeded Zahyra Hayes improved her runner-up status to Daige Love a year ago with a win in the super heavyweight division with a total of 1,135 pounds.

Junior Danielle Louque provided the team with a boost. She came into the state meet seeded second at 148 pounds and won her weight class with a perfect showing in the state meet.

“Danielle had a rough regional and she heard about it,” Magendie said. “To use a baseball analogy, she 100% stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park. She didn’t miss a lift (9 for 9), hit the projections that we had planned. She was probably the highlight of the meet for us.”

Junior Zaeli Florin, the No. 1 seed at 198, improved over her runner-up finish in ’24, with a total of 880 pounds, and won her weight class. Freshman Colbie Mitchell, the top seed at 220 pounds, improved over regional total of 930 pounds with 995 pounds – a total fueled by a 405-pound deadlift and 400-pound squad.

“You get three to four weeks between regionals to state,” Magendie said. “One philosophy is to treat regionals like it’s your last cleanup. Hit your numbers and you can clean up stuff. I intend for you to get a little more at state.”

Lutcher further bolstered its team championship with runner-up finishes from sophomore Addison St. Pierre at 165 pounds, senior Jade Chabaud, and third places from seniors Jade Madere at 123 and Briley Holley at 132.
St. Pierre was third at state last season and had a total of 900 pounds, Chabaud totaled 890 pounds, Madere had 720 pounds and Holley had 745.

“Winning is the expectation and we’re not going to back off of that,” Magendie said.  “We’re happy that we won. We had some people that were kind of disappointed in themselves. If there’s something I can do to help get it fixed, I will, and it won’t look the same next year.”

Magendie said Lutcher’s roster size averages 30 girls per season with those numbers reaching 34 this season. Participants come from a variety of backgrounds, ranging from volleyball and soccer in the fall to softball in the spring. There are also members of the cheerleaders and dance team.

“It’s hard work and not just viewing this as a November to March sport,” Magendie said of the sport’s growth at this school. “That was a culture change when we came in. We working out in May? Yes, we are. You can’t do this for a few months and compete with people that are doing it all year. You have to work out. That was the biggest change.

“Making it a focus,” Magendie said. “The whole state is getting more coaches paid to do this now. Some teams, back then, were just getting a bunch of softball girls and saying, ‘Come on’. It was a big change when it became a varsity sport. Lutcher loves sports. Once we made this a thing, the community picked up with it, the kids picked up with it and it snowballed from there.”