BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Bradford High School’s Rylie Blankenship won the traditional championship in the 119-pound class at the Feb. 3 Region 2-1A girls weightlifting meet at Chiefland High School and will be the Tornadoes’ lone representative at the state finals.
Blankenship actually tied with West Nassau’s Savannah Cothren, with each finishing with a 240-pound overall total, but Blankenship earned the championship and the automatic state-qualifying berth that comes with it due to the weigh-in tiebreaker. She weighed in at half a pound less than Cothren.
During the clean-and-jerk competition, Blankenship had a successful lift of 115 on her first attempt. However, she missed her second and third attempts, which were at 125 pounds — a total she successfully lifted at the previous week’s District 6 meet. That left Blankenship in fourth place heading into the bench press.
Blankenship needed a strong performance in the bench, and she got it. She did 115 on her first attempt and then lifted a personal record of 125 on her second attempt. Blankenship was unsuccessful on her third attempt at 130, but her 125 was the best bench total in the class by 5 pounds. She was one of only three lifters in the 119 class to surpass 100 pounds on the bench.
The state finals will be held Saturday, Feb. 17, at R.P. Funding Center in Lakeland. Blankenship will lift during the first flight, which begins at 9 a.m.
Bradford had two other lifters earn points, which were awarded for placing in the top six. Raelynn Moore placed sixth in the 119 class with a 215 total (105 clean and jerk, 110 bench), while Brianna Brooks was sixth in the unlimited class with a 300 total (130, 170). Brooks’ bench and clean-and-jerk totals were both 5 pounds greater than what she did at the District 6 meet, while Moore made a 10-pound improvement in the bench from districts to regionals.
The Tornadoes finished with nine team points, which put Bradford in eighth place.
Brooks was the closest to earning an at-large bid to state for Bradford. If her overall total had been 15 pounds greater, she would’ve advanced.
At-large qualifiers were determined by comparing the totals of the second- through 10th-place lifters at the four regional meets.
The Tornadoes’ Addison Thornton placed 10th in the 199 class. She had a 270 total (125, 145), improving from the district meet by 5 pounds in the clean and jerk and by 15 pounds in the bench press. She had the fourth-highest bench total in the class.
Blakeleigh Smith had a 235 total (110, 125) in placing 11th in the 154 class. Her bench total was 5 pounds greater than what she did at the district meet.
Kellsie Cochran also competed for Bradford, finishing with a 215 total (110, 105) in the 169 class. Her clean-and-jerk total was 5 pounds greater than what she lifted at the district meet.
