BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Keystone Heights High School won every weight class but two in both the Olympic and traditional events, capturing the team championship trophies in both events at the District 7-1A boys weightlifting meet, which was held March 29 at KHHS.
For a team that’s won the last three state championships in traditional, the goals are bigger than winning the district, but to reach those goals, you have to perform to your capabilities at the district level. That’s why Head Coach Lantz Lowery admitted he sleeps little the night before a district meet.
“I’m always more nervous about this than I am regionals or state because we can foul up here,” he said. “This is the first meet for these kids in which everything matters. If you don’t do it today, there is no next week.”
Keystone’s 16 total individual champions in Olympic and traditional automatically qualified for the Region 2 meet, which will be held Saturday, April 6, at Suwannee High School at 10 a.m. The Indians are sure to have more competing at that meet once at-large qualifiers are announced.
The Indians had a team score of 115 in Olympic, finishing 60 points ahead of runner-up Palatka. Eagle’s View was third with 25 points, followed by Cedar Creek Christian with 5 and Bishop Snyder with 4.
In traditional, Keystone had 115 points to Palatka’s 52. Eagle’s View had 33, followed by Bishop Snyder with 6 and Cedar Creek Christian with 2.
District teams Bradford and Union County decided not to participate.
Seven Keystone lifters won their weight classes in both Olympic and traditional, including first-year lifter Tyson Baxter, who broke the school bench-press record in the 119-pound class with a lift of 205. The previous record was set in 1998.
“That’s a heck of a job,” Lowery said, adding, “It’ll be really neat in the next three weeks to see where he winds up.”
Baxter had snatch total of 110 and a clean and jerk of 160 to finish with a 270 overall Olympic total and 365 overall traditional total.
Trey Jeffries won district titles in Olympic and traditional last year and won the traditional state title in the 219 class. This year, he’s competing in the 238 class. He had a snatch of 225, a clean and jerk of 325 and a bench press of 365, giving him the top overall totals of 550 in Olympic and 690 in traditional.
Wyatt Van Zant won the Olympic district title in the 139 class last year and did it again this year with a 395 total (145 snatch, 250 clean and jerk). His bench press of 195 gave him a 445 traditional total that earned him first place as well.
The other four lifters who won titles in both Olympic and traditional were Davin Adams in the 154 class with a 405 Olympic total and 455 traditional total (175 snatch, 230 clean and jerk, 225 bench), Ben Ulsch in the 169 class with a 465 Olympic total and 570 traditional total (195 snatch, 270 clean and jerk, 300 bench), Zane Leger in the 199 class with a 395 Olympic total and 470 traditional total (155 snatch, 240 clean and jerk, 230 bench) and Jayden Goodman in the 219 class with a 520 Olympic total and 625 traditional total (205 snatch, 315 clean and jerk, 310 bench).
Tyler Ducan won the unlimited class championship in Olympic with a 475 total (200 snatch, 275 clean and jerk), while Colton Hollingsworth won the traditional championship in the 129 class with a 415 total (200 clean and jerk, 215 bench). Both were district champions last season as well.
Olympic results
Keystone had seven finish as runners-up in the Olympic event: Andrew Ulsch with a 215 total (80 snatch, 135 clean and jerk) in the 119 class, Jed Tisdale with a 345 total (140, 205) in the 129 class, Jackson Parmeter with a 355 total (140, 215) in the 154 class, Kyle Perkins with a 415 total (175, 240) in the 183 class, Trace Wooden with a 365 total (155, 210) in the 199 class, Bryson Wester with a 420 total (170, 250) in the 219 class, and Jackson Herman with a 485 total (205, 280) in the 238 class.
Five earned third-place finishes: Hollingsworth with a 335 total (135, 200), Declan Shine with a 345 total (145, 200) in the 139 class, Layton Wright with a 390 total (155, 235) in the 169 class, Clayton Shaw with a 390 total (155, 235) in the 183 class and Brayden Wester with a 455 total (175, 275).
Traditional results
Besides winning an Olympic championship, Duncan earned a runner-up finish in traditional with a 605 total (275 clean and jerk, 330 bench).
He was one of seven to place second in traditional, joining Tisdale, who had a 410 total (205, 205), Shine, who had a 425 total (200, 225), Perkins, who had a 470 total (240, 230), Wooden, who had a 400 total (210, 190), Bryson Wester, who had a 590 total (250, 340), and Brayden Hall, who had a 560 total (235, 325) in the 238 class.
Five lifters placed third: Andrew Ulsch with a 250 total (135, 115), Damien Dunlap with a 425 total (200, 225) in the 154 class, Wright with a 465 total (235, 230), Shaw with a 460 total (235, 225) and Brayden Wester with a 600 total (275, 325).
Moving forward
The Indians’ toughest challenge at the Region 2 meet will be host Suwannee, which won the Olympic state championship last year ahead of Keystone and finished six points behind the Indians in the traditional event at state.
“We’re going to give them all we’ve got,” Lowery said, “but I think they’re the number-one team at the state.”
At last year’s Region 2 meet, Keystone won the traditional championship with 56 points, which put the Indians three points ahead of Suwannee. Suwannee had 74 points to Keystone’s 54 in winning the Olympic championship.
The Class 1A state finals will be held Saturday, April 20, at R.P. Funding Center-Jenkins Arena in Lakeland. The lighter weight classes will begin lifting at 9 a.m., with the heavier classes lifting at 3 p.m.
