Jalen Davenport’s first appearance at a national championship powerlifting meet was a memorable one.

The Blue Mountain College and former Warren Central lifter finished fifth in the 105-kilogram (231-pound) weight class at the USA Powerlifting Collegiate and Junior Nationals this weekend.
Davenport lifted 722 pounds in the squat, 424 in the bench press, and 589 in the deadlift for a total weight of 1,735 pounds.

Davenport, a freshman, was fifth out of 77 lifters in his weight class, with competitors coming from colleges and independent teams all over the country. Powerlifting is a club sport at the college level, so lifters from tiny Blue Mountain — an NAIA school in northeast Mississippi — were competing alongside those from Division I programs like LSU, Louisiana-Lafayette, Ohio State, Florida, Oklahoma and many more.

Blue Mountain finished third in the men’s team standings, and the women’s team was fourth.

Blue Mountain freshman Kennith Moore won the national championship in the men’s 53-kilogram (116-pound) weight class.