NEDERLAND — Catarina Tran won her second straight Region 4 Division 1 powerlifting championship battling the flu.

“I wasn’t doing my best because I was recovering from the flu, but with a lot of support from my team and my coaches, they actually helped me break the record on the squat,” the Nederland senior said.

Tran’s 725 total pounds after performing the squat, bench press and deadlift broke a regional record for the 114-pound weight class during the Feb. 24 meet in Splendora. Her next mission is to improve on last year’s seventh-place finish at the Texas High School Women’s Powerlifting Association state meet at Waco’s Extraco Event Center on Friday.

“I will have to focus and be on my best attitude come state and just have fun with it,” Tran said.

She and classmate Hope Brekel are making return trips to state. This will be the third time for Brekel, who could have been a state record holder for the squat in 5A.

There was just one problem. She wore Spandex underneath her competition suit, which is illegal.

“… So I broke the state record, and they took me to this tent and they checked me and I got disqualified,” she said.

Brekel is going to Waco as the regional runner-up at 105 pounds, having lifted 625 pounds. She was the Region 4 Division 1 champion last year in the 97-pound class and holds the regional squat record at 260 pounds. She beat that mark by 5 pounds in a higher weight class.

At the state meet, the divisions will be broken into actual UIL classifications, although that governing body does not supervise powerlifting events. Nederland competes in 5A.

While Tran and Brekel try to bring home hardware, Nederland junior Tien Nguyen and Port Neches-Groves senior Andrew English will have an extra week to gear for their first Texas High School Powerlifting Association meet at Abilene’s Taylor County Expo Center.

The boys’ state meet saw Gage Carreon of PNG finish second at 165 pounds. English has trained with the current graduate and also spends time at CDL Fitness in Nederland.

“He told me, ‘Don’t let it get in your head,’” said English, who was third in Region 4 Division 1 in the 220-pound category lifting 1,560 pounds. “He sent me video of what he watched the same day before regionals and what motivated him. He definitely motivates me.”

English advanced after receiving two red lights on his deadlift, meaning the previous attempts were not performed cleanly.

“I had a lot in the tank left for my lift for deadlifting and squat,” English said. “The goal is to beat the kids who beat me in regionals, which I know I can do.”

A top-10 finish is the goal for Nguyen, the 114-pound regional runner-up (860 total pounds) who’s taking on a different sport after playing football and basketball and competing in track.

“I was a field guy in track, so I had to do a lot of strength training,” he said. “That was in Arkansas, so I moved back to Texas, and that was when I got into powerlifting, because I was like, ‘What should I do? I want to try something new.’”

I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews