On February 18, junior Annia Johnson-Pierre squatted 205 pounds breaking the all-time ACIT girls squatting record for the second time. Johnson-Pierre took up the challenge of breaking her own record, which she set on January 12 at 180 pounds. Prior, former student Brook Armitage set the record at 175 pounds in the winter of 2020.

This accomplishment sets Johnson-Pierre’s name on the record board, displayed at the back of the gym. Here, the names of record-breaking students and their weight-lifting accomplishments are put up for display.

“I wanted to accomplish some personal goals and beat my personal records,” said Johnson-Pierre, who is also a varsity cheerleader for ACIT.

Starting as a hobby, Johnson-Pierre began weight-lifting with a friend, and enjoyed being able to build her strength. She says her way of building strength is to start small and then gradually add on more weight. This way she can build her strength steadily and safely.

“[She] is looking to break her own [record] in the future before graduating from ACIT,” said physical education. teacher Mr. Mahoney.

Johnson-Pierre plans to take on the girls’ deadlift record, which is currently set at 245 pounds, as well as getting on the bench press record board.

“I am going to continue working on it,” says Johnson-Pierre. ”It’s been a long term-goal of mine to improve on my upper body strength.”

She hopes to set these new records by the summer of 2023.