BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Bradford High School’s Rylie Blankenship won a championship for the second straight year at the District 6-1A girls weightlifting meet, which was held Jan. 26 at Keystone Heights High School.
As a champion, Blankenship qualified for the Region 2 meet, which will be held Saturday, Feb. 3, at 11 a.m. at Chiefland High School.
Blankenship won the 119-pound class with an overall total of 240, which was 40 pounds better than the total she had in winning the 110 class at last year’s district meet.
In the clean and jerk, Blankenship missed her first attempt of 115. She tried again successfully on her second attempt. Blankenship then made a 10-pound jump, which resulted in her having the best clean-and-jerk total in the class by 15 pounds.
Blankenship also made a 10-pound jump in the bench press, going from 105 to 115.
She finished in first place by 10 pounds.
Addison Thornton earned a medal for placing third in the 199 class. She had a 130 bench press and a 120 clean and jerk for a 250 total.
The Tornadoes’ Raelynn Moore and Brianna Brooks just missed out on earning medals, which were awarded to the top three in each class. Moore had a fourth-place total of 205 (100 bench press, 105 clean and jerk) in the 119 class, while Brooks had a fourth-place total of 290 (165, 125) in the unlimited class.
Lifters placing in the top six earned points toward their team score. Bradford, which was tied for sixth out of nine teams, also got points from Blakeleigh Smith, who was fifth in the 154 class with a total of 235 (120, 115).
Also recording official results for the Tornadoes were Kellsie Cochran, who had a seventh-place total of 220 (115, 105) in the 169 class, Aliyah Pueschel, who had an eighth-place total of 205 (105, 100) in the 169 class, Kadynce Brown, who had a ninth-place total of 165 (90, 75) in the 129 class and Mallory Frazier, who had a 10th-place total of 170 (80, 90) in the 139 class.
Bradford will wait to see if any lifters earn at-large bids to the Region 2 meet. The lifters with the top 16 district meet totals in each class will join the district champions, who automatically qualified.
