Franklinton’s Deante Cotton is a powerlifting state champion.

The senior captured the Division II state meet after lifting a combined 1,490 pounds between squat, bench press and deadlift in Saturday’s State Meet at the Fant-Ewing Coliseum in Monroe.

Cotton squatted 540 pounds, benched 350 and deadlifted 600 pounds for the 1,490 total.

Deante Cotton said he felt speechless after winning the state title.

“I couldn’t really say much,” Cotton said. “I had a lot of calls coming in. It’s like a dream.”

Cotton broke three Division II records in the super heavyweight division, the bench, deadlift and his total weight. The previous records were set by Peabody’s Deandre Cotton in 2013 at 345 bench, 565 deadlift and 1,470 total.

Cotton said the state records were a goal for him going in.

“I was also going for the squat record, but that didn’t happen for me,” Cotton said.

Franklinton coach John Lambert said Cotton is someone he coached during football season.

“He’s a strong kid and he applied those strengths to powerlifting,” Lambert said. “The combination of his football strength and the powerlifting workouts were the key to him winning. He adapted to the sport very well. It was completely on him winning. His final lift was a 600-pound deadlift. For a senior who was in his first year of doing this, I’m beyond proud of him. He carried himself like a champion from the beginning of it until he was a champion.”

This was the first year of the Demons’ powerlifting program and Lambert said he and the lifters were learning on the run.

“The season gave us a chance to see where we were,” Lambert said. “We went through a few meets and we got stronger. We had four boys and one girl qualify for the state championships.”

The top 10 from each division qualified for state.

In the boys, Franklinton had three other boys make it to state, including Casey Riley, who was in the 220-pound weight class and Kobe Crain along with Grayson Wills competed in the 275s.

Riley finished eighth in the state for the 220s with a total of 1,145. He posted a 405 squat, 295 bench and 445 deadlift.

Tioga’s Davion Johnson was the winner at 1,300.

Crain and Wills were fifth and seventh respectively.

Crain finished with 1,200. He squatted 425, benched 265 and deadlifted 510. Wills had a 395 squat, 200 bench and 375 deadlift for a 970 total.

Assumption’s Lawrence Armstead is the state champion after recording a 1,580.

Franklinton finished ninth in the team competition, as 13 squads put up at least one point.

Assumption won the event with 52 points.

Tioga was second at 41, followed by Abbeville (28), Ellender (20) and Leesville (11) tied Beau Chene to round out the top five.

In the girls, Madison Nash reached the state meet, but did not have any successful lifts at state.