[BYNAME]By Roger Murray
[BODY]Nobody was certain what the record was, or for that matter, if any record had ever been posted for the event.
Justin Moroldi made sure there is no question now.
The Ninth Annual Tournament of Champions passing and linemen competitions were held Saturday at Santa Fe High School. Lakewood dominated the action, winning the passing competition by beating Narbonne, 29-23 in the championship game.
The Lancers then capped the day by taking home the linemen trophy, too.
The question about that absent record was about weight lifting in the linemen competition.
Burbank’s Moroldi stole some of Lakewood’s thunder when he topped the power clean category by lifting 185 pounds 91 times.
Ninety-one times!
Afterward, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound Moroldi, a two-way senior tackle who will be a third-year varsity player this fall, said he heard someone else had done 68 reps earlier in the day, and he wanted to top that.
Mission definitely accomplished.
Although Santa Fe coaches Jack Mahlstede and Bob Costa couldn’t come up with a number even in a general area that might have been the former record, they both were adamant that it couldn’t have been anywhere close to Moroldi’s performance.
Burbank coach Ted Amorosi was there to help tally the count.
“I watched the whole thing,” Amorosi said. “The amazing thing about it is that he was 40, 50 pounds lighter than a lot of the other guys doing it. Obviously, he’s one of the strongest kids in our program, and probably the strongest, pound-for-pound.”
“He has a great work ethic, and he showed great heart because at around 50 to 70 (repetitions), his body was telling him to ‘stop this stuff.’
“I know all this doesn’t mean anything this fall, but it was one of those moments you’re proud to be a coach when you get to watch a kid give the absolute maximum effort to achieve success. We as coaches stress giving effort and making commitment, and this was the epitome of that concept.”
Just a footnote: Moroldi hoisted a combined weight of 16,835 pounds.
