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(NEWCASTLE ISD | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO) Catherine Youngblood represented Newcastle ISD in the Texas High School Women’s 2025 State Championships for powerlifting Wednesday, March 12 in Edinburg. She came away with an 11th place finish in her 114-pound weight class in the 1A and 2A competition. -
(NEWCASTLE ISD | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO) Newcastle’s Catherine Youngblood lifts in the Texas High School Women’s 2025 State Championships for powerlifting Wednesday, March 12. She finished 11th in her weight class with a score of 655 overall.
It is not often a school can send an athlete to state the same year it introduces a program, but that’s just what Newcastle ISD did with powerlifting.
After implementing the program in the 2024-2025 school year, junior Catherine Youngblood was the first to not only win a medal for powerlifting in the district’s history, but the first athlete to make it to state.
During the Texas High School Women’s 2025 State Championships for 1A and 2A powerlifting held Wednesday, March 12, Youngblood placed 11th out of 15 competitors in the 114-pound weight class.
Youngblood lifted 245 pounds on squat, 150 pounds on bench and 260 pounds in deadlift, for a total of 655 pounds.
The Newcastle Ladycats traveled Saturday, March 1 to compete in the regional powerlifting meet at Bells ISD. Youngblood qualified for state after placing second in the 114-pound weight class by lifting 245 pounds on squat, 155 pounds on bench press and 235 pounds on deadlift, for a total of 635.
During the first competition for the school Saturday, Jan. 18 in Dublin, Youngblood came away with first in her weight class and the first medal for the Newcastle program. She had previously lifted for Union Hill ISD where she made the state competition.
Powerlifting coach Shane Mallory said in January that the program was something the school wanted to implement and after the district hired Catherine’s parents, Carley and Kyle Youngblood, things began to move forward.
“(Catherine Youngblood said) she wanted to powerlift and I said, ‘Absolutely.’ So we kind of started the whole program up this year,” Mallory said. “...It’s so intricate. You think you’re just going there and moving heavy weights around, but there’s a lot more to it than that. The strictness of the lifts, the equipment required and all the things that go into it.”
Both the Ladycats and Bobcats got experience this year with powerlifting and will use Youngblood’s state visit as a motivator for next season.
“Hopefully it’s something we can start with six and seven (students) and then build it to 10 and 12 a piece and see where we can go with it,” Mallory said in January. “...It’s you versus you when you get in there. You’re competing with other people in your weight class. But for us right now ...it’s kind of you versus you and we’ll see how strong we can get and how far we can come.”
