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new castle, pa. Powerlifting carries teen beyond her wildest dreams
By JOHN HARRIS
A year ago, New Castle, Pa., native Mikala Henry had never lifted a single weight, much less dreamed to become a world champion powerlifter.
In a span of seven months, Mikala’s life has turned upside down. She’s done more than pick up a weight for the first time in her life, Much more. She’s a natural who has won every competition she’s entered, highlighted by capturing the World Natural Powerlifting Federation (WNPF) title earlier this month in Bordentown, N.J.
Competing in the 165-pound, 17-19-year-old division, Mikala lifted a career-best 355 pounds – more than double her weight – to win the event against competitors from the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Guatemala and Georgia.
“I could have done more. I wanted to try,” said Mikala, a 17-year-old senior who attends Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School.
“Mikala wanted to try 360, 370 pounds. I told her she had nothing to prove to anyone,” said her father, Alton Henry.
Only to herself, her father added.
Mikala’s competitive drive is what attracted her to powerlifting.
She became known as Little Mikala, the world’s most physically fit 10-year-old. A natural athlete, she focused on dancing, which she studies at Lincoln Park.
In 2010, Mikala and her elementary school classmates attended the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, named after famed bodybuilder, actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Mikala met bodybuilders Lou Ferrigno, Toney Freeman and Denise Masino and caught the attention of Robert Kennedy, a bodybuilding guru and magazine publisher who featured Mikala in Oxygen magazine.
She also promoted Healthy Choices as Little Mikala, telling kids about the benefits of eating healthful foods. She became passionate about bullying when some of her friends were victimized.
“She’s always been a competitor at heart,” said her mother, Charmagne Henry.
A family friend, Kenny Johnson, became aware of Mikala’s athletic prowess and encouraged her to give powerlifting a try.
Johnson, who trains regularly at Global Fitness in Warren, showed Mikala the basics. The precocious teenager amazed everyone the first time she lifted.
“My mom’s friend was helping me. I just wanted to see if I could pick it up,” she said. “I saw I could do it so I kept adding more weight.
“I wanted to see if I could dead-lift 275 pounds. It was so easy for me.”
“When we took her to the gym, she kept adding weight. Everybody was saying, ‘Wow,’” said Alton.
After setting the national dead-lift record of 335 pounds at her first sanctioned meet in July, Mikala lifted 350 pounds to win the WNPF Powerfest 2K16 Ironman championship in Austintown in October. A month later, she won the world championship.
Mikala is setting her sights on the 2017 Arnold Classic in March, followed by a college career that could include powerlifting at Division I programs such as Pitt, Ohio State and Penn State.
She has even bigger goals: the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
“I was very surprised at first. I wasn’t expecting to win all those competitions,” Mikala said. “Once I saw I was lifting all this weight and winning, it was very exciting.
“When I was younger, I met Lou Ferrigno and all those bodybuilders. They put me in magazines. Ever since then, I’ve been building up from that.
“This sport really suits me,” she said. “I just started doing it and I’ve gotten this far already. I really want to train for the 2020 Olympics. That’s my goal.”