Manny Gordillo, with some pointers and motivation from Bates Powerlifting, cleaned up in his first powerlifting meet at the 2018 USPA Camp Pendleton Open on January 20. The youngest member of the Bates Powerlifting team, Manny not only took Gold for his age/weight, he took Silver for weight alone and set new National records for all three lifts in the Junior Men 16-17 67.6kg/148.7lb class. Manny said, “Yesterday’s first official powerlifting meet was a blast of a lifetime. I had the opportunity to meet others with similar goals and people who I look up to within this sport. I greatly thank Nick Bates for helping me get into this sport and helping me out tremendously at the meet.”