But all eyes moved to the squat, where the real heavy lifting hit. Dion Hunter banged out 390 pounds, Alec Morenco hit 395 and Vincent Santos hit 405 pounds for the best mark in the discipline on the night. In the bench one year after no Lobo hit the magical 400-pound mark and only one bested 335, three players hit 390 or better. He was the first Lobo to break the 300-mark on the night. The 170-pound Wysong cleaned 325, almost doubling his own weight. Luke Wysong, one of the league’s fastest players could now make the case as pound-for-pound on of the strongest. That got the program rolling, althought it was one of the smaller Lobos who practically stole the show. All told, eight Lobos PR’ed 12 times and seven times equalled their PRs for an astounding 19 top marks, besting the entire total of 18 last year. OJ Bartley bested his target of 295 four times, finishing at 335 pounds, a mark that was equaled by new running back Dennis Hayden, who hit his mark three times. However, the real action started at 6 with the clean. Even the callers got into the act as Hank Baskett called into the show in the opening hour to swap storied with his former teammates. It turned into three hours of Lobo Football talk on the radio, as Gonzales, Baker and Jerrick Reed II joined the conversation. Nunley and Slow broadcast live from the weight room with Robert Portnoy, DonTrell Moore and Kole McKamey joining in.
What set things apart was that Night of Champions XVIII was a true event. As Gonzales noted, it’s not a record (which was 41 by in the early 2000s under Rocky Long’s watch), but it’s better, and it’s only going to continue getting better. Twenty-two players so far in the spring have hit 300 or more in the clean.
It allowed for seven consecutive weeks of strength training, a must with a new strength staff, but it has certainly borne fruit. New Mexico was the first Division I FBS team to begin Spring Practice, completing the campaign on March 12, the day that UNM’s Spring Break started. Now the next nine weeks are the most important for us, to continue to get in the weight room and continue to get stronger.”Ĭertain Gonzales’ early Spring Ball plan worked. It’s a great step in the right direction. “Derrick (Baker), Tim (Gray) and Deep (Mahein) have done a great job of motivating and teaching and getting the most out of our guys. “This was a terrific night and I’m so appreciative of the huge amount of fans that came out to watch,” said Gonzales.
The marks bear out what head coach Danny Gonzales was hoping for, as a total of 30 lifts hit or bettered previous maxxes.
Gay was one of 20 football players to compete in the program that included eight players in the clean, and six players each in the bench and squat. In front of a huge crowd and a live radio audience, Adam Gay obliterated his Night of Champions squat mark of 565 with a 610-pound squat, highlighting an incredible night for the Lobo Football program. After Adam Gay’s performance at Night of Champions XVIII, Gay could have his own bumper sticker with #610, and it would be fitting for all involved. Fred Slow and Van Nunley of KNML, hosts of the Two Men On have little bumper stickers with #FOTS on them, meaning “Friend of the Show”.
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