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NATCHEZ — Adrian Marshal is headed to the MHSAA 5A Powerlifting State Championship this weekend. Marshal will compete at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson on Saturday. He will weigh in at 7 a.m. and will start lifting at 9:10 a.m. 

His family will be in the stands and people from Natchez can join them in support. Tickets are $15 on GoFan. 

“It will help me go hard and get first place knowing they are supporting me,” Marshal said. 

A senior, this is his first year competing in the state championship. He set a school record at South State with a 560 pound deadlift. The previous record was 480 pounds and the 148-pound senior decimated the record. Head Coach Nickie Davis said the lightweight lifter has people rooting him on at those meets because of what he can do. 

“He is very coachable and he does a lot of work on his own,” Davis said. “He trains with someone I used to coach. It is ironic that I have been around long enough to see generations connect. Pound for pound, Marshal is the best I have ever seen. He is a great kid and a pleasure to coach.” 

This is Marshal’s second year in powerlifting. COVID robbed the team of two seasons prior to last year. He said he started weightlifting because he wanted to go into law enforcement and knew it would help prepare him for the physical tests. 

Powerlifting is his only sport. While a lot of people in powerlifting join to help with football, Marshal is an outlier. He said the sport takes dedication.

“You have to stay consistent with it and be determined to do it,” Marshal said. “I didn’t make it past south state last year. It was the greatest thing for me because I came into this year wanting to place first.” 

Marshal trains for powerlifting on his own most of the time but when he does train with Davis he works under a regime of percentages. Davis said they base workouts on how many reps lifters can do to get to the max weight. They gauge their maximum weight based off of those reps and percentages. 

After a competition, Marshal has a recovery routine where he will drink recovery shakes and soak in epsom salt baths. He will rest and then get back to training. 

More than lifting weights

Davis returned to coach powerlifting this season at the request of Marshal and a few of his teammates. The Army veteran’s return means he is able to give advice to Marshal about life after high school. 

Marshal is enlisting in the U.S. Army after high school so he can one day become a U.S. Marshal. After he goes to the Army, Marshal plans to get a bachelor’s degree at Alcorn, work as a police officer and then become a U.S. Marshal when he meets the requirements. 

Davis said he is trying to give Marshal guidance and knows he will have a head start with security clearance by going to the military first. It is not the first time Davis has coached a powerlifter who pursued a career in the military. Montrel Netterville, a former student of Davis training with Marshal, is ex-military. 

Davis said Marshal could continue to train for powerlifting in the military with the state of the art facilities they have. He should be prepared for the next chapter of his story. 

“I’m taking all of his (Davis) advice,” Marshal said. “Besides the competition, I have enjoyed the advice I have gotten and the connections I have made too.”