{"id":16466,"date":"2026-03-24T19:23:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466"},"modified":"2026-03-24T19:23:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:23:00","slug":"dvids-news-phantom-warriors-win-first-place-at-usa-powerliftings-2026-military-police-firefighter-national-powerlifting-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466","title":{"rendered":"DVIDS &#8211; News &#8211; Phantom Warriors win first place at USA Powerlifting\u2019s 2026 Military &#038; Police\/Firefighter National Powerlifting Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>KILLEEN, TX&#8211;The Phantom Warrior Powerlifting Team delivered an outstanding performance at the USA Powerlifting National Championship on March 21, 2026, on Fort Hood, TX securing first place in the team category against some of the nation\u2019s top competitors.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The championship, one of the premier events in the sport, brings together elite lifters from across the country who have qualified through rigorous regional competitions, making the team\u2019s victory a significant achievement for both the installation and its surrounding community.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Phantom Warriors head coach Johnny A. Graham (endearingly known as \u2018Truck\u2019 by his team,) said the team trained heavily to prepare for the event.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cA lot of hard work,\u201d said Graham. \u201cThe lifters train after duty hours. They don&#8217;t train during duty hours. So it&#8217;s a lot of hard work involved. We&#8217;re in the gym from five o&#8217;clock in the afternoon to eight o&#8217;clock at night.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The competition consisted of three events; the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift. Competitors were separated into divisions based on gender, age, and bodyweight.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Captain Korina Martinez, an air defense artillery officer with the 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, had personal records in all her lifts, with a 413-pound squat, 198-pound bench press, and a 440-pound dead lift, earning the gold medal for her division.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cI feel relieved,\u201d said Martinez. \u201cI\u2019m very happy with all my numbers.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>She went on to praise her coach, saying that he\u2019s been vital to her success as a lifter.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cMy coach, \u2018Truck,\u2019 he&#8217;s been absolutely incredible,\u201d said Martinez. \u201cI came into his team with a very open mind and I was self-taught. He literally changed up my technique almost completely in all lifts and that has been a complete game changer. So he&#8217;s been absolutely awesome to work with.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Martinez, who started lifting just one year ago, says that her teammates play a big role in her success as well.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cEverybody here is super supportive of each other,\u201d said Martinez. \u201cThey&#8217;re very encouraging. Honestly, if I didn&#8217;t have them, I probably wouldn&#8217;t have as much confidence that I do have.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Specialist Johnlee Guzman, an infantryman assigned to 3rd Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, was another standout competitor. Despite having returned from the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, California at 4 AM that morning, he still managed to win two gold medals.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cI feel great now because of the awards, but just because I didn&#8217;t think I was gonna be able to compete here today,\u201d said Guzman. \u201cSo the fact that I got a chance to come here and be able to show out, that&#8217;s all I care about really.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Guzman also emphasized that one of the many aspects that he loves about the sport is the comradery he shares with his teammates.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cIt&#8217;s amazing,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to say it&#8217;s like my second family. Every day we train. It&#8217;s always a great vibe and great energy. I love it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Other Phantom Warrior medal winners include Major Dinh Tat, Sergeant First Class Kyle Perkins, Staff Sergeant Brandon Nguyen, Specialist Alexandria Hook, Specialist Theodor Olson, Specialist Victor Vasquez, Paulette Calhoun, and Darryl Dansby.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Coach Graham had nothing but positive things to say about his team after watching them win the championship.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWe won the national championship,\u201d said Graham. \u201cThis is our 23rd military national championship. So I&#8217;m very proud of them. What I&#8217;m really impressed with, I have a very young team and they&#8217;re very, very respectful, very disciplined and they train their butts off.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Graham, being a former 8-time world champion powerlifter himself, has been involved in the sport for over 20 years, and continues to dedicate his time and energy to his team even in retirement.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cI love Soldiers,\u201d Graham said. \u201cThat&#8217;s the bottom line. I love Soldiers. I was in the sport myself when I was in the military. I love the fact that I can help other Soldiers do the same thing that I did.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvidshub.net\/news\/561227\/phantom-warriors-win-first-place-usa-powerliftings-2026-military-police-firefighter-national-powerlifting-championships\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KILLEEN, TX&#8211;The Phantom Warrior Powerlifting Team delivered an outstanding performance at the USA Powerlifting National Championship on March 21, 2026, on Fort Hood, TX securing first place in the team category against some of the nation\u2019s top competitors. The championship, one of the premier events in the sport, brings together elite lifters from across the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-powerlifting-news"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>DVIDS - News - Phantom Warriors win first place at USA Powerlifting\u2019s 2026 Military &amp; Police\/Firefighter National Powerlifting Championships - World Bodybuilding News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DVIDS - News - Phantom Warriors win first place at USA Powerlifting\u2019s 2026 Military &amp; Police\/Firefighter National Powerlifting Championships - World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"KILLEEN, TX&#8211;The Phantom Warrior Powerlifting Team delivered an outstanding performance at the USA Powerlifting National Championship on March 21, 2026, on Fort Hood, TX securing first place in the team category against some of the nation\u2019s top competitors. The championship, one of the premier events in the sport, brings together elite lifters from across the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-24T19:23:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=16466#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=16466\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"World Bodybuilding News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d84bf475351cac13351c44d62b00dcd2\"},\"headline\":\"DVIDS &#8211; News &#8211; Phantom Warriors win first place at USA Powerlifting\u2019s 2026 Military &#038; Police\\\/Firefighter National Powerlifting Championships\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-24T19:23:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=16466\"},\"wordCount\":692,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=16466#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/1774498299_1000w_q95.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Powerlifting News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=16466#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=16466\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=16466\",\"name\":\"DVIDS - News - Phantom Warriors win first place at USA Powerlifting\u2019s 2026 Military & Police\\\/Firefighter National Powerlifting Championships - World Bodybuilding News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=16466#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=16466#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/1774498299_1000w_q95.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-24T19:23:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d84bf475351cac13351c44d62b00dcd2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=16466#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=16466\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=16466#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/1774498299_1000w_q95.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/1774498299_1000w_q95.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":667},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=16466#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"DVIDS &#8211; News &#8211; Phantom Warriors win first place at USA Powerlifting\u2019s 2026 Military &#038; Police\\\/Firefighter National Powerlifting Championships\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"World Bodybuilding News\",\"description\":\"Data, Rankings, Results.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d84bf475351cac13351c44d62b00dcd2\",\"name\":\"World Bodybuilding News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f3a97dc2b632583ef0db5105000be61b101080263520a02b1a9096e649f18e5e?s=96&d=initials&r=g&initials=wo\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f3a97dc2b632583ef0db5105000be61b101080263520a02b1a9096e649f18e5e?s=96&d=initials&r=g&initials=wo\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f3a97dc2b632583ef0db5105000be61b101080263520a02b1a9096e649f18e5e?s=96&d=initials&r=g&initials=wo\",\"caption\":\"World Bodybuilding News\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?author=3\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"DVIDS - News - Phantom Warriors win first place at USA Powerlifting\u2019s 2026 Military & Police\/Firefighter National Powerlifting Championships - World Bodybuilding News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"DVIDS - News - Phantom Warriors win first place at USA Powerlifting\u2019s 2026 Military & Police\/Firefighter National Powerlifting Championships - World Bodybuilding News","og_description":"KILLEEN, TX&#8211;The Phantom Warrior Powerlifting Team delivered an outstanding performance at the USA Powerlifting National Championship on March 21, 2026, on Fort Hood, TX securing first place in the team category against some of the nation\u2019s top competitors. The championship, one of the premier events in the sport, brings together elite lifters from across the [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466","og_site_name":"World Bodybuilding News","article_published_time":"2026-03-24T19:23:00+00:00","author":"World Bodybuilding News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"World Bodybuilding News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466"},"author":{"name":"World Bodybuilding News","@id":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d84bf475351cac13351c44d62b00dcd2"},"headline":"DVIDS &#8211; News &#8211; Phantom Warriors win first place at USA Powerlifting\u2019s 2026 Military &#038; Police\/Firefighter National Powerlifting Championships","datePublished":"2026-03-24T19:23:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466"},"wordCount":692,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774498299_1000w_q95.jpg","articleSection":["Powerlifting News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466","url":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466","name":"DVIDS - News - Phantom Warriors win first place at USA Powerlifting\u2019s 2026 Military & Police\/Firefighter National Powerlifting Championships - World Bodybuilding News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774498299_1000w_q95.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-24T19:23:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d84bf475351cac13351c44d62b00dcd2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774498299_1000w_q95.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774498299_1000w_q95.jpg","width":1000,"height":667},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16466#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DVIDS &#8211; News &#8211; Phantom Warriors win first place at USA Powerlifting\u2019s 2026 Military &#038; Police\/Firefighter National Powerlifting Championships"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/","name":"World Bodybuilding News","description":"Data, Rankings, Results.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d84bf475351cac13351c44d62b00dcd2","name":"World Bodybuilding News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f3a97dc2b632583ef0db5105000be61b101080263520a02b1a9096e649f18e5e?s=96&d=initials&r=g&initials=wo","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f3a97dc2b632583ef0db5105000be61b101080263520a02b1a9096e649f18e5e?s=96&d=initials&r=g&initials=wo","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f3a97dc2b632583ef0db5105000be61b101080263520a02b1a9096e649f18e5e?s=96&d=initials&r=g&initials=wo","caption":"World Bodybuilding News"},"url":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?author=3"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}