Three Yelm powerlifters sign to continue sport at collegiate level

For the first time in program history, Yelm High School’s powerlifting team hosted a signing day ceremony and celebrated three athletes — Mason Embrey, Triniti Hickman and Andrei Buban — who are all set to continue their lifting journey collegiately.

Triniti Hickman, the first ever girl from YHS to sign to a college for powerlifting, will continue the sport at Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City, Tennessee. Mason Embrey and Andrei Buban, the program’s second and third male collegiate powerlifters, signed to Oregon State’s club program and McKendree University (Lebanon, Illinois), respectively.

Flanked by family, friends, teammates and coaches Thomas Hoghaug and Cayla Gable, Hickman, Embrey and Buban each signed to their respective universities at YHS after school on Tuesday, May 20.

“It’s all pretty crazy to think about. We couldn’t be any more proud of them, either,” Hoghaug said “This is our first official signing day for powerlifting. It’s year two of our program, and we have three kids going and lifting collegiately.”
He highlighted his male lifters, Embrey and Buban, and thanked them for their contributions to the program. Embrey was there when it began for Hoghaug and Yelm Powerlifting in 2021 during the virtual national strongest high school competition.

“Mason, our best lifter in the state, his freshman year we did an online competition. It was the strongest high school in America competition, and we had to submit videos of all the lifts. We won nationally, and I was really proud of how well Mason did. Then, I was really regretful and really sad. His bodyweight video didn’t get submitted correctly, so his lifts were zeroed out. When I looked at his numbers, he would’ve got first place in his weight class as a freshman,” Hoghaug said. “From then on, he knew he loved this sport.”

Once the powerlifting program was established, Hoghaug knew Embrey would be a program staple.

Embrey proved him correct.

“Mason demolished a lot of records and came out on top as the best lifter in the state. I’m excited for him to go to college because I know he can compete at a high level there,” Hoghaug said. “He’s been a leader on the team. He’s been my go-to kid to ask questions about different things in the program. I’m going to miss him a lot.”

Hoghaug also noted that he believes Buban has an incredibly high ceiling in the powerlifting world, and that he believes the senior athlete can reach and shatter that ceiling at McKendree University.

“I love Andrei. He frustrates me a lot of times, but I love Andrei so much. The first time I saw him squat in class, saw how good his form was, and knew he could squat some good weight. Just from that point on, he’s improved so much,” Hoghaug said. “He started powerlifting last year, and I don’t think he knows how strong he can possibly be.”

Buban was also one of the powerlifters from Yelm who attended the National High School Powerlifting Meet in Wisconsin this school year. Hoghaug believes his departing senior has set a great example of being a powerlifter at YHS.

“This year, he went to nationals and was one of the first kids to lift at that stage,” he said. “He set that bar for our program, and I’m super grateful for him to be able to do that. McKendree University is a top notch powerlifting university, and they’re usually a top team every single year.”

Gable also spoke about Hickman, Yelm’s first female collegiate powerlifting athlete. She spoke not only on Hickman’s strength ability, but also on the type of character she possesses.

“What’s really great about Triniti is that I’ve known her and her family for a while. When her family told me she was going to do her senior year at Yelm, I was beyond excited,” Gable said. “She’s awesome, and she’s a great kid. It turns out she’s also really good at weightlifting, and that was the icing on top, because I got to hang out with her, get to know her, be her teacher, walk her through these developmental patterns and techniques with her lifts.”

She added that Hickman was not only a model powerlifter, but a model student and a great human being.

“She came out like a total beast and surprised us a little bit with the numbers she put up, but didn’t surprise us with her attitude and desire to be good at this sport,” Gable said. “Every lift, every attempt, the work that she put in inside the classroom, it was all there. I saw her fire. I saw her energy. I saw all these things about her that I didn’t know were there, even though I’d known her for a while.”