BY CLIFF SMELLEY
The Class 1A girls weightlifting season came to a close with the Feb. 17 state finals, which included three lifters from the Telegraph-Times-Monitor coverage area competing at that level for the first time ever and one making her second straight appearance.
Bradford High School’s Rylie Blankenship competed at state last year, placing ninth in the 110-pound class with a 225-pound total. This year, she had a 240 total in the 119 class and finished in a four-way tie for 13th place with Bishop Verot’s Kendall Sullivan, Holmes County’s Mya Brewer and St. Stephens’ Makayla Miles. She was officially 16th due to the weigh-in tiebreaker.
Blankenship had a successful 115 pounds on her first clean-and-jerk attempt before missing attempts at 125 and 130 pounds.
She lifted 120 on her first attempt in the bench press and followed that with a 125, which tied the personal record she set at the Region 2 meet. She unsuccessfully lifted 130 on her final attempt.
Blankenship was 40 pounds away from earning a medal. Medals are awarded for placing in the top six.
Keystone Heights’ Chloe Still was also 40 pounds away from earning a medal, compiling a 280 total in the 139 class. She finished tied for 14th with Baker’s Karley Bishop and was officially 14th after the weigh-in tiebreaker was employed.
Still did 135 on her first clean-and-jerk attempt before missing 140 twice. She then missed 145 twice on the bench before successfully getting it on her final attempt.
Union County had two lifters competing, with Alexia Cyr placing 14th in the 169 class with a 285 total. She began her day by missing 130 in the clean and jerk, but came back with a successful second lift of 135. She missed 140 on her final attempt.
Cyr did 150 in the bench after missing out on that total on her first attempt. She was unsuccessful on her final attempt of 155.
The Tigers’ Riley Gibson competed in the 119 class, finishing 19th with a 220 total. She needed to get her third clean-and-jerk attempt in order to compete in the bench. She missed 105 twice, but was successful on her final attempt at that same weight.
Gibson did 115 in the bench before missing 125 twice.
