BRYAN, Texas — A senior at Rudder High School set records in powerlifting at state this month.
Jason Batiste squatted nearly a third of a ton when he competed at the 2022 Texas High School Powerlifting Association's State Meet.
“I’ve been lifting since the third grade and that has helped me grow to where I’m at now,” said Jason Batiste, senior at Rudder High School. “As a senior, I can lift 700 pounds.”
Jason may have big muscles, but he also has a big heart for his teammates. He wants to make sure they succeed as well.
“He was able to teach them new techniques along with the other seniors that we had on the team where they were helping out our younger guys to help them build their squat,” said Tim George, Head Powerlifting Coach. “Our younger guys set a lot of personal records this year and even our older guys set a lot of personal records just based off of him.”
With graduation next month, one of Jason’s teammates reflected on their time together at state.
“Me and Jason have been like tight with each other since middle school so I kind of just been helping him out since then with just lifting, spotting him, and wrapping him at state,” said Conner McQueen, senior at Rudder High School. “It just feels like having a whole extra family of people who support you, help you out, you support them, you help them out.”
With that brotherhood of support, Jason and his team held each other accountable so they could all have their win.
“The sophomores just recently had great increases,” said Batiste. “They’re doing like 500, 550 now and the seniors that lifted alongside me are a lot stronger now. All of them probably could have been at state with me. They taught me form. I taught them form, how to get bigger.”
While Jason is very humble, his coach says he is a leader for the team.
“Wherever kids needed help in, he was good about putting in his input,” said Coach George. “If he needed anything, his other teammates would’ve helped him out, he helped out his teammates. Like I said great leader, great kid. His future is very bright wherever he goes, whatever he wants to do.”
While Jason may squat big, his dreams are bigger. He is considering opening a gym here in Bryan after graduating from college.
“I’m going to Prairie View A&M,” said Batiste. “My plan is to major in Computer Science and try to major in Business also in order to become a business owner, maybe open up my own gym somewhere in this area.”
Jason earned 8th place in Division 1's top weight class. He will continue to help and inspire his teammates and looks forward to graduating next month.