BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Keystone Heights High School’s Kaylee Wright earned two medals at the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 1A Girls Weightlifting Finals, which were held Feb. 18 in Lakeland.
Wright, making her third straight appearance at state, competed in the 169-pound class, placing third in the traditional event (bench press and clean and jerk) and fourth in the Olympic event (snatch and clean and jerk).
It was the second straight year Wright stood on the medal platform. Medals are awarded for top-six finishes.
Wright actually had the second-highest total for her class in the traditional event, finishing in a tie with Fort Meade’s Valeria Garcia. Garcia earned the runner-up spot due to the weigh-in tiebreaker.
The two lifters were 50 pounds behind champion Kahlan Gant of Bay.
In the clean and jerk, Wright successfully lifted 155 on her first attempt. She missed 165 on her second, but was successful on a second try at 165 on her final attempt. It was the third-highest total in her class and a 5-pound improvement from what she did at the District 6 meet.
Wright had a 175 total in the bench press on her first attempt before missing attempts of 185 and 190. If she had made either of her missed attempts, she would’ve had the highest bench-press total in her class.
The Olympic event saw Wright miss her first two snatch attempts (120 and 125) before she was successful on her final attempt of 125, which was the second-highest total in her class and a 5-pound improvement from her district total. That, with her clean-and-jerk total, gave her a 290 total, which was third best in the class. However, Wright tied with South Sumter’s Abigail Wilhelm, who was awarded third place due to the weigh-in tiebreaker.
If Wright’s overall total had been just 5 pounds higher, she would’ve finished as the class runner-up.
Gant won the Olympic championship with a 355 total, while Bradenton Christian’s Lauren Jolly was second with a 295 total.
