CHEROKEE, Kan. (KOAM) — For Southeast junior Braxtyn Renn, the weight room has always felt like home. He just needed to find the right way to make it part of his life.
“I’ve always loved lifting,” he says. “I knew there was something for me to do, but I couldn’t really find it until powerlifting.”
Renn and his friends first tried the sport as a way to stay active during football’s offseason. After attending competitions last year and experiencing the atmosphere for themselves, he was hooked.
“I love football. I really do,” Renn says. “But powerlifting, everybody’s cheering everybody on, and you don’t get that in many sports. You don’t get that in any sports — everybody cheering everybody on. No matter what school, what district, what state, everybody’s cheering you on.”
Renn wanted to bring that experience to Southeast. He spent hours researching the sport, talking with administrators and learning how other schools organized their programs. Then, he took his proposal to the school board.
“It was scary to go out in front of the board and talk, because I didn’t know if it was going to be a no or not,” he says. “But I was willing to do that just for the good in doing this.”
One Southeast staff member said Renn’s initiative stood out.
“It’s not every day you get to see a kid take that much initiative,” weights coach Laney Lawson says. “So it’s really cool to have something like that here at Southeast and, not necessarily be a part of it, but to get to watch it.”
Renn said he wanted to give the board as much information as possible, researching what other schools and districts had done and what policies they used.
Last month, the board approved a Lancers powerlifting team, which is set to begin competition this winter.
“I was just so blessed,” Renn says. “I thank the Lord every day. It was just a great, great opportunity to do.”
The new team will give Southeast students another way to get involved, especially those who aren’t drawn to basketball during the winter season.
Lawson says the school’s weight room gives students a place to discover an interest and build confidence.
“I can see lots of kids … that I know wouldn’t find a home in another extracurricular,” she says. “But I know that they can find a home here. And so anytime that you can get something for everybody to get involved outside of school is good for them.”
For Renn and his friends, that opportunity is exactly what they were looking for.
“That’s the big reason,” he says. “All my buddies and I, we just all got together and we’re like, ‘We don’t like basketball, and it’s not for us.’ So we wanted something different. And this is it.”
The team will train three to four times a week, Renn said, building strength while developing the discipline they can carry beyond the weight room.
COPYRIGHT 2026 BY KOAM NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
