Evans High graduate Taylar Stallings shows some of the trophies she has earned in track-and-field events. JIM BLAYLOCK/STAFF

Teen lifts weights and runs to stay competitive

Taylar Stallings has taken girl power to a higher level.

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"I bench 190, power clean 185 and squat 375," she said.

Those are pounds the 18-year-old graduate of Evans High School is talking about, and she has the physique to prove it.

"Everybody, the first thing they look at when they see me is my arms. And they say, 'Oh, she's swole,"' she said.

She is. At 5-foot-2, 160 pounds, Ms. Stallings excels in weightlifting and track and field, and breaks most of the standards of body image that are glorified on the covers of trendy magazines.

"Nah, I don't want to be that thin," she said about many of the models.

She contends there is no ideal size for a girl. For Ms. Stallings, measurements are only relevant in sports.

"I really, honestly don't think there is an ideal woman. It is whatever you feel comfortable with," she said. "I like my body."

Ms. Stallings says she gets a lot of respect from her family, peers and strangers. "I get folks feeling on my arm, saying, 'Flex for me.' (Girls) say, 'You're all muscle,' and the older women like it, too. They say they wish they had my body," Ms. Stallings said, adding, "Of course the guys get intimidated."

Some of them, anyway.

"I don't think there's a girl in the state of Georgia, at the high school level, with that strength level, ever," said David Machovec, former football and track and field coach at Evans High.

Weightlifting has become a means to an end for Ms. Stallings, who starts classes Monday at the University of South Florida in Tampa on an athletic scholarship.

As her career in track and field has taken off, she's spending more and more time in the weight room building her strength to better perform in shot put, discus and hammer, where a ball attached to a rope is swung and thrown.

"Every since I was little I loved sports. I've been lifting weights with my dad since first grade," Ms. Stallings said. "Sports have always been there."

Taylar, who also lifts weights, will attend the University of South Florida in Tampa this year on an athletic scholarship. JIM BLAYLOCK/STAFF

Even as a self-described tomboy when she was young, playing sports with her brother and lifting weights with her dad, she had no clue that she'd one day win weightlifting competitions.

"I know I was shocked about all of this weight training," she said.

"I work out four to five times a week," she said. " It's a lifestyle now."

But she doesn't want to get too much bigger.

"I've been trying to make a balance. I run to lose weight but I try to stay toned, so I lift weights to build muscle."

It will come in handy next year when she's competing against track stars from across the country.

"Now I really become the underdog," she said. "The girls I threw with here were big, but on average, the girls (in college) are 5-foot-10, 200-plus pounds. I'm basically below average."

That has never stopped her before.

She said it was only recently that she really started to shine in track-and-field events.

"She had the work ethic, raw talent and strength base - power base," Mr. Machovec said. "All she needed was someone to take her under their wings and show her how to throw."

"I just got good this year," Ms. Stallings said, crediting Mr. Machovec as one of the people who helped her.

The timing, however, was perfect.

"Because of one throw, my whole life changed," she said, referring to a throw in shot put that placed her sixth nationally and started her recruitment. "Things I always doubted came to reality. My dreams came true."

Although Ms. Stallings will be busy trying to make her mark, Mr. Machovec said she already has an edge.

"She has all the qualities you want in a teammate," he said. "She's not selfish, she's a motivator, an encourager, all the intangible things you don't measure with a tape measure."

Reach Kamille Bostick at (706) 823-3223 or kamille.bostick@augustachronicle.com

--From the Tuesday, August 19, 2003 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle