Exhausted after lifting more than a combined 1,700 pounds in four hours and unaware of where he stood in the competition, Noah Shotwell simply asked an official “Did I win?”
The answer was the culmination of years of dreaming, countless hours of training, and endless sacrifices along the way. But the result was worth the effort for in that one response Shotwell was told he was a world champion powerlifter.
Shotwell, on Aug. 20, won the Sub Junior Equip Weight Class Division at the 026 IPF World Sub-Junior and Junior Classic and Equipped Powerlifting Championships in Sun City, South Africa.
“It has not really sunk in yet but it feels good,” Shotwell said shortly after his hearing those life-changing words. “It was a dogfight throughout (the competition) and it really put into perspective how hard this would be.
“The competition was much higher than I ever had.”
Shotwell lifted a combined 1,735 pounds, including 661 pounds in the squat, a 401-pound bench press and a 672.2-pound deadlift. Throughout the day he focused on his own routine, unaware of how his competitors were performing.
“Even though I was nervous I figured the best way to go about it was one lift at a time and never give it any extra mind what my opponents were doing,” he said.
Shotwell won the squat but the bench press was next, admittedly his weakness. Even after winning the national championship in Omaha, Nebraska, earlier in the summer, he understood his undoing on the international stage could potentially be the bench press.
So his training for South Africa had a specific focus.
“I went through a two-month program and the strategy was to attack every (weakness) which really was the bench press and that really paid off,” he said. “We had a good strategy overall.”
He trained at several gyms in East Feliciana Parish including the Slaughter gym.
“To be honest I did not think this would happen,” he said.
But with encouragement from his dad, Justin, who has coached him for the past several years, and Slaughter powerlifting coach Kendal Frazier, Shotwell began to believe and even dared to dream.
“It ended up being possible and I was well qualified for it,” he said, although his initial reaction after learning of the victory was not immediate.
“I tried to embrace it as much as I could but I have a sense of emotional delay so it did not register immediately,” he said.
Shotwell and Caeden Stearns, who is from the Kentwood area and also won the world championship in his class, then began their own celebration, bouncing their emotions off of each other and sharing in the moment.
“There was a lot of excitement, me and (Stearns) being around each other, but also the nerves (during the competition),” he said. “We went into this with a very similar feeling.”
Shotwell, who is attending Texas State University, recognizes the lessons he learned in a faraway land will always be close to home.
“I think it was all worth it because there has been a lot of questions about myself,” he said. “Going undefeated this past season has shown myself I am as strong as people say I am.”
And with one seemingly unattainable dream realized because of his newfound belief in himself, his goals are now set higher.
“It used to be I never shot for the stars academically but since this has come around, I am shooting for the stars because I know I can do it,” he said.
