The Delcambre High School powerlifting program will have a few more items with which to grow another state champion after the Planet Fitness gym in New Iberia donated several items to schools across the Teche Area.

The Panthers received a new dumbbell set and rack, an assisted dip machine, and several new weight benches. Other schools, like Westgate, received equipment as well.

According to powerlifting coach Brad Armentor, the opportunity to receive the equipment came about due to a local connection.

“The maintenance supervisor is the wife of coach Damien Broussard, so he let us know that they were giving away all of the equipment to local schools so we got to decide what we needed,” Armentor explained. “We needed new dumbbells, benches and some other stuff.”

The Panther powerlifting team has seen exponential improvement under Armentor recently. As the roster of lifters grows, the need for more equipment also grows, but cost is always an issue.

“Our heaviest set of dumbbells before we got these was 50 pounds,” said Armentor. “For a lot of our guys, football players included, they can do a lot of stuff beyond 50 pounds but we didn’t have any access to it. Weights are so expensive now. A set of dumbbells used to be about $1 per pound, but now it’s probably closer to $2, so it was nice to get some extra help from a local business.”

Last year, then-senior Keira Segura repeated as state champion while 2025 lifter Kaitlyn Duplantis also earned a place on the podium, finishing second in the 198-pound weight class with a combined lift of 685 pounds.

For Armentor, having a well-equipped weight room is an important piece of the puzzle for growing the sport at DHS, but he is still looking for a male athlete who can challenge for a state title.

“We hope this encourages more athletes to come out. We’re not sure if the boys program is going to grow much from it since a lot of the boys around here like to hunt in the winter and play baseball in the spring,” Armentor said. “We need one guy to show up and do well, maybe win state like Kiera did, and that will hopefully pull some more of them. The girls program has grown, we had 11 last year and we’re close to 20 now.”