Junior sets state records in powerlifting at USPA Drug Tested Santa Cruz Open

and didn’t at all discourage the overall positive experience.

In the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown era, Tate B. ’24 began his journey to national powerlifting alongside his older brother Cole Bregman ’22. The pair lifted together after school in a makeshift home gym in their garage stocked with just sets of dumbbells.

For Tate, weightlifting quickly transformed from a simple hobby to a deep passion and is what led to a switch from casual lifting to competitive powerlifting. Tate notes that this switch came as he began to overtake Cole’s personal records at lighter weights.

As the pandemic conditions improved and restrictions lightened, Tate began going to a real gym five times a week, where he met new people who talked to him about competitive weightlifting. For him, “seeing other people who were actually actively involved in powerlifting that [he] had higher splits than” gave him confidence and direction as he began to enter this new sport.

Tate was then introduced, by way of Gabe A. ’24, to Micah Haugen, a powerlifter from Texas who brought Tate to his first competition, the Texas Strength Classic in San Antonio.

However, Tate was largely unaware of the proper preparation and training needed to maximize performance at these meets and ended up going in after just cutting nearly 30 pounds. Although the particular results of the meet were unfavorable, the exposure to yet another facet of lifting aside from the technical strength gain and diet considerations captivated Tate even further,

On May 13, 2023, Tate competed again, this time chasing both state and national records in the bench and deadlift. Just three days prior, Tate went for personal records on the bench press, successfully completing a 305 pound lift, a would-be national record.

At the meet, Tate opened his bench at 265, five pounds above the previous state record of 260, instantly qualifying himself for the international competition that takes place in October 2023.

“It was definitely a confidence builder to be able to walk in and take the pressure off a qualification right away with what is now a warm up for me” he recounted.

As he progressed further, he found himself lying down with 304 pounds sitting on the bar just feet above him, a national record for his weight class of 181 pounds. While Tate was able to successfully get the bar up, it was called off due to non-continuous motion on the way up. So, he was stuck with a high of 286 on the bench, a new state record and a performance he regards as “not particularly disappointing, just unfortunate.”

With this qualification, Tate has his eyes on the national titles yet again at the global competition where he can show out on an even bigger stage. His performance also landed him an invite at a meet in another federation, where, if he wins in any particular lift, he has the opportunity to be nominated to compete for Team USA.

Boys Tennis

Despite challenges with attendance and practice commutes, the tennis team was able to close out their season on a positive note.

For team-captain Alex W. ’24 their matches against Menlo, one of the most successful tennis programs in Central Coast Section and state history, best reflected the teams progression.

“It was one of the first times in Nueva [tennis] history that we were able to compete against Menlo,” Alex said. After the match, Menlo’s Coach Bill Shine approached the Nueva team and praised their performance.

The volleyball team ended their winning season at home with a 3-0 victory over the Mountain View Academy Mustangs. Cullen D. ’24 dominated the match, accumulating a total of 16 kills (unreturnable attacks), followed by Zander C. ’23 with eight and Charlie B. ’24 with seven.

“It was nice to see some of our newer players get playtime, since our lead allowed for us to change up the line up,” Cullen said. “With three of our senior teammates graduating, this game helped prepare our underclassmen to fill their key roles.”

To end a successful season the track team competed in the California Interscholastic Federation Central Coast Section Finals on May 20.

The women’s races marked many personal records including Kate V. ’23’s 62.04 second 400 meter, Grace E. ’26’s 49.89 second 300m with hurdles. Furthermore, the 4x100 relay team reached a personal record of 52.01 seconds, the 4x300 team a personal record of 2:16.71, the 4x400 team a personal record of 4:31.70, and the 4x800 team a personal record of 10:34.78.

Meanwhile, on the men’s side Ryan F. ’26 and Ryan D. ’23 both achieved personal records in the one mile during the competition of 4:46.11 and 4:53.66, respectively. Additionally, the 4x100 relay team reached a personal record of 45.77 seconds as well.