By JONATHAN BURROWS

Tribune Sports Reporter

jburrows@tribunemedia.net

Two members of the JKS Fitness Powerlifting team, Indera Gibson and Shane Moncur, competed at the Southeastern Regionals USA Powerlifting Meet on Sunday, October 19, as they continued their journey toward becoming pro powerlifters. 

Both athletes aimed to achieve qualifying totals for the 2026 USAPL Nationals in Philadelphia. 

Indera Gibson had an exceptional performance, reaching a total of 437 kilograms and setting new personal bests across all three lifts. She recorded a 157.5kg (347.2lbs) squat, a 90kg (198.4lbs) bench press, and a 180kg (396.6lbs) deadlift. 

She earned a platform personal record for her squat. Gibson’s total qualifies her for the nationals in 2026, another major milestone in her powerlifting career. 

Shane Moncur also showed strong progress, finishing with a total lift of 740 kilograms, with personal bests in his bench press and deadlift. He recorded a 280kg (617Ibs) squat, a 185kg (408Ibs) bench press, and a 275kg (606Ibs) deadlift. 

Unfortunately, this total fell short of the qualifying total of 755kg.

Speaking on his training before the meet, Moncur said: “This training was the most challenging because it was a lot of hard days for me where I wasn’t as strong but, compared to the other two, this was the hardest because I had to cut down to get back in my weight class, dealt with injuries earlier in the year but the overall training was great because I got to see myself bounce back with a lot of strength and actually PR in two of my lifts.” 

Moncur now looks ahead to another USA Powerlifting meet in his quest to reach the 755kg qualifying total required for nationals. He will have until May 2026 to achieve that mark. 

“Going forward I will continue training after a couple of days’ rest but moving forward hopefully another meet pops up soon, maybe at the end of the year or early next year so I can qualify for nationals,” said Moncur. 

The JKS Fitness Powerlifting team continues to make steady strides toward professional status in the sport.