March 06, 2003
All 18 Texas A&M football players selected to participate set personal-best strength training marks during the first annual Night of Champions Thursday night at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The strength and conditioning staff pre-selected 18 players to participate in the event which featured max testing of each player while teammates closed in and yelled encouragement. Lifts contested were the bench, the incline press, the squat and the power clean.
In addition to the 18 personal best marks, there were two school records that fell in front of an estimated 2,000 fans.
"It was a great crowd," A&M football coach Dennis Franchione said. "In the 15 years we have been doing this, it's very close to the largest crowd we've ever had. They were into it and it turned into a great team building event."
Freshman linebacker Andy Matakis broke the A&M record in the squat with a personal best lift of 580 pounds surpassing the record set in 1989 by Jeroy Robinson of 575 pounds.
Later, junior linebacker Everett Smith matched the school mark in the power clean with a weight of 368.5 pounds. It tied the record set in 1991 by Quentin Coryatt.
The crowd was brought to its feet several times, most notably when sophomore offensive lineman John R. Kirk set a personal best in the squat of 650 pounds.
Other highlights included junior running back Derek Farmer squatting three-times his own body weight with a lift of 600 pounds. Meanwhile, sophomore defensive back Ronald Jones squatted nearly three-times his body weight with 515 pounds.
"We're not as strong as we want to be," Franchione said, "but we're going in the right direction. We've made a big jump from where we started like I thought."
The event wrapped with the team's Iron Man Award presented to the squad's four lifting groups. Earning the award for the skill positions (WR, DB, RB, QB) was Ronald Jones, while Archie McDaniel took the honor for the standup positions (LB, TE, FB). The award for the under 300-pound lineman was presented to James Milkavich, while the over 300-pound group honor went to Aldo De La Garza.
The Iron Man Award is presented to the player who pound-for-pound is the strongest at each position using a power rating.
Coach Fran addressed the crowd, before the event ended with the playing of the Aggie War Hymn.
The Aggies will begin spring football workouts on March 18. Information on attending the workouts can be found at AggieAthletics.com.
2003 Texas A&M Football Night of Champions
Results
March 6, 2003
G. Rollie White Coliseum
Incline Press
Participant Position Class Result-lift
Keith Joseph RB Jr. personal best-370
David Ross DL So. personal best-380
Brian Patrick DL So. personal best-380
James Milkavich OL Sr. personal best-370
Squat
Participant Position Class Result-lift
Ronald Jones DB So. personal best-515
Derek Farmer RB Jr. personal best-600
Andy Matakis LB Fr. school record-580
John Riley Kirk OL So. personal best-650
Power Clean
Participant Position Class Result-lift
Everett Smith LB Sr. school record-368.5
Archie McDaniel LB So. personal best-357.5
Anthony Squillante DB Jr. personal best-297
Jared Morris LB Sr. personal best-363
Geoff Hangartner OL Jr. personal best-379.5
Bench Press
Participant Position Class Result-lift
Tim Van Zant WR Sr. personal best-360
Alan Reuber OL Sr. personal best-390
Scott Stickane LB Sr. personal best-410
Bryce Reed RB Fr. personal best-430
Aldo De La Garza OL So. personal best-460