BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Union County High School had two individual champions and a total of eight who’ll advance to regionals in capturing the District 6-1A runner-up girls weightlifting traditional trophy on Jan. 24 in Keystone Heights.
The Tigers had a team score of 39, edging out Bradford by two points for the second-place spot behind Keystone, which had 72 points.
Baldwin was fourth with 32 points, followed by Fort White (29) and Bishop Snyder (8).
Riley Gibson and Taleya Smith won their weight classes to earn automatic bids to the Region 2 meet, which will be held Saturday, Feb. 1, at Chiefland Middle-High School at 10 a.m. Gibson had a 245-pound total (115 clean and jerk, 130 bench press) to place first in the 119-pound class, while Smith, who was successful on all of her lift attempts, had a 300 total (140, 160) to top the 169 class.
Both lifters took first ahead of teammates. Holly Halfacre was the 119 runner-up with a 210 total (115, 95), while Briena Haight was the 169 runner-up with a 285 total (130, 155).
Haight and Halfacre both earned at-large Region 2 berths based on their district totals, as did Union lifters Allaya Blocker, Alexia Cyr, Emma Handley and Gracie Manning.
Cyr was the runner-up in the 139 class with a 280 total (130, 150), while third-place finishes were earned by Handley with a 205 total (110, 95) in the 129 class and Blocker with a 260 total (120, 140) in the unlimited class.
Manning placed fifth in the 154 class with a 205 total (105, 100).
Courtney Manning also competed for the Tigers, finishing seventh in the 154 class with a 190 total (95, 100).
