BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Alexia Cyr won her weight class, while Holly Halfacre and Riley Gibson were runners-up for Union County High School at the District 6-1A girls weightlifting meet, which was held Jan. 26 at Keystone Heights High School.
The district champions automatically qualified for the Region 2 meet, which will be held Saturday, Feb. 3, at 11 a.m. at Chieflan High School. Cyr earned the right to advance in the 169-pound class, which she won with an overall total of 285 pounds.
Cyr finished in a tie with Newberry’s Dalia Johnson, but was awarded the championship because of the weigh-in tiebreaker. Johnson was better in the clean and jerk with a best total of 150 to Cyr’s 125, but Cyr came back and bested Johnson in the bench press. She started out at 150, which was 15 pounds better than Johnson’s best attempt. Cyr would go on to then do 155 and then 160 on her final attempt.
Halfacre had an overall total of 185 in the 110 class, which tied her with Sofia Conde of St. Johns Country Day. Conde was awarded the championship due to the weigh-in tiebreaker.
Conde and Halfacre each finished with a 100 total in the clean and jerk. They both did 80 and 85 on their first two bench-press attempts before each missed a final attempt at 90.
Gibson took second in the 119 class with a total of 230, finishing 10 pounds behind champion Rylie Blankenship of Bradford. Gibson finished with a 110 total in the clean and jerk. In the bench press, she was unsuccessful on her first two attempts, but got her final attempt of 120, which was the best total in the class.
Tai Allen and Briena Haight received medals, which were awarded to the top three lifters in each class. Allen had a third-place total of 215 (105 bench press, 110 clean and jerk) in the 129 class, while Haight had a third-place total of 275 (150, 125) in the 169 class.
Allen had the same total as Santa Fe’s Destiny McBroom, but placed ahead of her with the weigh-in tiebreaker.
The Tigers finished in a tie for third place with Newberry. Each team had 26 points to finish behind co-champions Keystone and Baldwin, who each had 42 points.
Emma Handley also contributed to Union’s team score (the top six lifters earned points). She had a sixth-place total of 190 (95, 95) in the 119 class.
Three Union lifters placed seventh: Layla Barber with a 195 total (90, 105) in the 129 class, Hayden Andersen-Davis with a 195 total (95, 100) in the 139 class and Gracie Manning with a 175 total (90, 85) in the 154 class.
Also competing for the Tigers were Addison Wright, who had a ninth-place total of 175 (80, 95) in the 139 class, and Tifton Roseke, who had a 10th-place total of 210 (110, 100) in the unlimited class.
Union will wait to see if any lifters join Cyr at the Region 2 meet by earning at-large bids.
