Hickman powers to a world record

Ray Hickman used his weight to push around his opponents on his way to a memorable wrestling career at Placer High. Now, the 1989 graduate is throwing his weight around again, except this time he's pushing over three times it in the bench press. The 34-year-old Hillman grad flexed his muscle to become the World Association of Benchpressers and Dead Lifters' world record holder in his age and weight division recently when he benched 502 pounds at the Washington State Weightlifting Championships in Pasco, Wash., - breaking the record of 467 by 35 pounds. It was a remarkable feat for the 5-foot-4, 165-pound father of two, who now resides in the tiny town of Joseph, Ore."I'd been training to break it for a lot of years," Hickman said about the record. "I just needed a meet where I could do it."Despite that amazing record, Hickman has his sights set on breaking the Open world record mark of 522 pounds when he competes in the WABDL Nationals in Portland, Ore., in August. The electrician says he's already hitting around 520 pounds in practice. Hickman's new athletic endeavor could be seen as a far cry from his first sport, where dropping weight was paramount. But after a stellar high school career with Placer, which earned him a full athletic scholarship to Boise State, Hickman got more involved in the weight room. "I started lifting when I was in college and found I was awfully strong," Hickman said. "I did a couple of power-lifting meets and did well."His former high school coach, Bill Flake, who saw Hickman become the Sac-Joaquin Section Wrestler of the Year under his tutelage, knew his former wrestler had the strength to compete in events such as these. "He was always a really strong kid. When he got to college he was in the weight room," said Flake, who's seen Hickman compete first hand. "I went and watched him lift in Reno, it's interesting to say the least. They've got some really strong guys."During Hickman's high school career under Flake, he was a two-time section champion. In his junior and senior years he posted a career record of 105-2, placing second in the state his junior year at 105 pounds, and taking third his senior season at 119 pounds. He was also a member of the U.S. Junior National Team that traveled to Russia. "His wrestling career was very good for us," Flake said.After three years at Boise, where he was ranked as high as sixth in the NCAA, Hickman left school his junior year after suffering medical problems from trying to drop weight. That's when he became heavily involved in the sport of weightlifting. Hickman owns all the state records in Oregon for his weight class and set the Washington record with his lift as well. He is also the national record holder in his Submasters category, which is ages 34-39. His lift at the Washington championships was also the third biggest lift in the world. After the nationals in August, Hickman will head to Chicago in September for the Bench America event, where the top six in the world in each weight class are invited. The event will also be broadcast on Fox Sports Net and the first-place winner will take home a $6,000 purse. With such big weights being put up, the WABDL enforces a strong anti-drug policy, which Hickman follows and commends. After he set his world record lift, Hickman was tested to make sure he was not on any performance-enhancing drugs. The sport is also trying to gain attention as a possible Olympic sport, something Hickman hopes will become a reality. "It's petitioned into the Olympic games already," Hickman said. "That's the main direction, it would become an exhibition sport."While Hickman is happy with his current accomplishments and the world record, he says he doesn't stay content for long."I felt pretty good (after the 502 lift), but when I missed 518 right after that, well I was a little disappointed," Hickman said. "I'll go for the open record. I don't know if you ever get there (contentment), you can always gain more."