BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Head Coach Lantz Lowery tried to come up with the perfect adjective.
Crazy.
Amazing.
Special.
However you want to describe it, Keystone Heights High School won its third straight championship at the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 1A Boys Weightlifting Finals, which were held April 15 in Lakeland. The Indians compiled 41 points in the traditional competition (bench press and clean and jerk), which put them six points ahead of Suwannee — last year’s runner-up in Class 2A. They had two individual champions and a total of nine earn medals (awarded for top-six finishes) in becoming the third school (joining Baker County and Spruce Creek) to win at least three titles in a row.
Perhaps “blessed” is a good adjective.
“God blessed us to have this opportunity,” said Bo Overton, who won the 169 class in both the traditional and Olympic (snatch and clean and jerk) competitions.
Trey Jeffries, who won the 219 class in the traditional competition, said, “It’s awesome. We couldn’t be more thankful to God.”
Landon Hovsepian and Bryar Schenck echoed their teammates’ sentiments.
“It was God’s plan, not ours,” said Hovsepian, who was the runner-up in the 183 class in the traditional event. “That’s the way I look at it.”
Schenck, who was the Olympic runner-up in the 183 class, said, “We give all the glory to God.”
Keystone earned two team trophies at the event as the Indians finished in a tie for second place in the Olympic competition. Suwannee placed first with 49 points, while Keystone and South Sumter were tied with 29 points each.
As he did in the traditional competition, Overton won his class in the Olympic competition, which also saw six other Keystone lifters earn medals.
Hovsepian, besides giving thanks to God, gave credit to Lowery for putting the Indians in a position to win or at least challenge for state championships. Keystone has now won a total of four state championships under Lowery, with the first occurring in 2014.
“We couldn’t have done it without Coach Lowery,” Hovsepian said. “The pushing, the keeping us in a straight line, making sure we’re doing what we need to do with the dieting — everything. He kept us on track throughout the year.”
Lowery likes to downplay his involvement, saying he’s not the one who’s doing the lifting. He credits the buy-in from the student-athletes he coaches.
“It’s an amazing group of kids who show up every day and work hard every day,” Lowery said, adding, “Sweat equity pays off.”
Three in a row sounds good. How about another championship next year?
“Please don’t mention number four,” Lowery said. “Don’t even bring that up yet.”
Jeffries, who’s a junior, wasn’t hesitant about bringing it up.
“I can’t wait to make it four,” he said.
Schenck, as a senior, won’t be a part of next year’s team, but he said, “I think they can come back and do something special.”
2 individual champs and 2 near misses
It was quite a season for Overton, who couldn’t compete last year due to a knee injury. He won traditional and Olympic championships at the district and regional levels before concluding his final season with two state titles.
“It’s special,” Lowery said. “It’s hard work paying off. He overcame to do that.”
Overton was still coming to grips with the fact he was a state champion after the meet.
“It doesn’t feel real,” he said. “I’m happy that God gave me the ability to get here. I’m just happy with all the people who’ve been put in my life to get me here. I couldn’t have done it by myself.”
Overton had a bench press of 300 and a clean and jerk of 285 to compile a traditional total of 585, which put him in first place by 20 pounds, finishing ahead of Baker’s Brady Bright. He had the best clean and jerk in the class by 20 pounds and the second-best bench press.
In the Olympic competition, Overton took first by 40 pounds over South Sumter’s Jamare Dorsey. He had a snatch total of 215, which, when coupled with his clean and jerk, gave him a 500 total.
Lowery said if Overton had been able to compete last year, he would’ve been in the 154 class and had quite a battle with Keystone’s Ulysses Freed, who won two state titles and was named Florida Dairy Farmers Class 1A Weightlifter of the Year — an honor Lowery believes Overton should receive this year.
The coach, again stressing the value of hard work, said Overton’s path to two state championships was a long one.
“He’s been doing this since the eighth grade,” Lowery said. “It’s an accumulation of time — just time, day in and day out.”
Jeffries earned two runner-up medals at last year’s state finals, but was able to come away with one championship this year despite missing two of his clean and jerk attempts.
“It’s very emotional,” Jeffries said. “I worked very hard for this. It sucks that I had a very bad total. That’s probably one of my worst yet, but I still won. I’m just happy.”
Jeffries was successful on his first clean and jerk attempt of 300, but then missed 325 twice. His 300 was still the second-best total in his class and was 15 pounds more than the third-best total.
In the bench press, Jeffries missed 330 on his first attempt, but came back to get it successfully on his second attempt. He then did 345 on his third attempt to finish with an overall total of 645, which put him 15 pounds ahead of Suwannee’s Brandon Robinson.
Jeffries said it was easy to put his missed lifts behind him when he thought of his senior teammates and how he wanted to do his part to send them out as part of a championship team.
“I didn’t do it for myself,” he said. “I did it for my teammates. My coach walked up to me and whispered in my ear: ‘Think about the seniors right now.’ I went into sudden tunnel vision. It’s amazing what you can do for family.”
Jeffries earned two medals as he also placed third in the Olympic competition. His 215 snatch, coupled with his clean and jerk, gave him a 515 total.
Keystone actually had three lifters finish with the top totals in their classes in the traditional competition, but Reid Begue had to settle for second place in the 139 class. He and Hilliard’s Colton Conner each had a 505 total, but Conner was awarded the championship due to the fact he weighed in at 1 pound less than Begue.
“It feels great,” said Begue, who had a 230 clean and jerk and a 275 bench press. “I’m a little disappointed because I was looking for first place. This was my third year, so I was really looking to pull it out, but tying for first and losing by body weight isn’t as bad as just straight up losing.”
Hovsepian was close to winning his class in the traditional competition, but judges ruled that his rear end came up off the bench on his third bench press attempt of 325 pounds. Officially, his best bench press was 305. That and a 305 clean and jerk gave him a second-place total of 610, which left him trailing Suwannee’s Sam Wainwright by 20 pounds.
“It just didn’t happen. God must’ve wanted me to get second,” Hovsepian said, adding, “I was so close. So close. It’s OK, though. Everything happens for a reason.”
Hovsepian looked at the bigger picture, saying, “We still came out as three-time state champion. It feels great.”
Near championship misses aside, Hovsepian and Begue walked away with two medals each. Hovsepian placed third in his class in the Olympic competition, getting a snatch of 215 and finishing with a 520 total. Begue was fourth in his class in the Olympic competition, getting a snatch
of 165 and finishing with a 395 total.
Schenck earns a runner-up medal
Besides Begue and Hovsepian, Keystone had another runner-up in Schenck, who had a second-place total of 525 in the Olympic competition. He had a snatch of 225 and a clean and jerk of 300.
Schenck admitted his feelings were bittersweet because he had won a state championship in 2022, but was happy that his snatch total was 20 pounds better this year and that he did his part in Keystone being the Olympic runner-up.
“It hurts a little bit. It’s good and bad at the same time,” Schenck said. “It scored the points that we needed in order to be able to place second as a team in Olympic. I did break my record from last year. I wasn’t able to get first place, where I wanted to be, but I’m not mad. As long as it helped the team.”
On the traditional side, Schenck earned a medal for placing fifth. He had a 280 bench press, which, when coupled with his clean and jerk, gave him a 580 total and more points to put toward the team score and the eventual third straight state title.
“I feel blessed to be a part of it,” Schenck said.
More medal winners
Wyatt Van Zant earned two medals, while Tyler Anthony-Rozier, Jayden Goodman, Dakota Roper and Sam Ulsch each earned one.
Van Zant, competing in the 139 class, had a third-place traditional total of 470 (225 bench press, 245 clean and jerk) and a third-place Olympic total of 415 (170 snatch, 245 clean and jerk). He was successful on all nine of his lift attempts (snatch, bench press and clean and jerk). In fact, he had only one instance in which a judge deemed one of his lifts unsuccessful (though it was ultimately a good lift based on the other two judges).
“Wyatt got one red light all day,” Lowery said, adding, “He’s as steady as it gets.”
Anthony-Rozier and Ulsch both earned third-place finishes in the traditional competition. Ulsch had a bench press of 280 and a clean and jerk of 240 for a 520 total in the 154 class, while Anthony-Rozier had a bench press of 370 and a clean and jerk of 265 for a 565 total in the 238 class. The two lifters had the second-best bench press totals in their classes.
Roper placed fourth in the 199 class in the traditional competition with a 580 total. He went six of six on his attempts, with a best bench press of 340 and a best clean and jerk of 240. Roper’s bench press total was the second-best in his class.
Goodman took fifth in the 219 class in the Olympic competition with a 490 total. He had a 205 snatch and a 285 clean and jerk.
Jed Tisdale fell two spots shy of earning a medal in the Olympic competition. He had a snatch of 105 and a clean and jerk of 160 to finish with a eighth-place total of 265. He was 25 pounds away from earning a medal.
Bryson Wester placed in the top 10 in the traditional competition with a ninth-place total of 565 (310 bench press, 255 clean and jerk) in the 199 class.
Ulsch placed 10th in the Olympic competition with a 395 total (155 snatch).
Anthony-Rozier earned a 10th-place finish in the Olympic competition as well. He had a 185 snatch and finished with a 450 overall total.
Other results
Keystone also had the following traditional results: Tisdale 320 (160 bench press, 160 clean and jerk), 12th place; Colton Hollingsworth 315 (170, 145), 14th 119 class; Declan Shine 395 (210, 185), 11th 129 class; Goodman 565 (280, 285), 11th; and Brayden Wester 550 (280, 270), 13th 238.
On the Olympic side, the Indians had these additional results: Hollingsworth 245 (100 snatch), 15th; Davin Adams 355 (145 snatch, 210 clean and jerk), 18th 154; Bryson Wester 425 (170 snatch), 12th; Jackson Herman 445 (195 snatch, 250 clean and jerk), 11th 238; and Tyler Duncan 440 (180 snatch, 260 clean and jerk), 15th unlimited.
