BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Alexia Cyr won a championship in the traditional event at the Feb. 3 Region 2-1A girls weightlifting meet at Chiefland High School and is one of two Union County High School lifters who’ll compete at state.
Cyr finished in a three-way tie atop the 169-pound class as she, Newberry’s Dalia Johnson and Pierson Taylor’s Teriauna Carruthers each had an overall total of 285. Cyr weighed in at 1 pound less than Johnson and approximately 3 pounds less than Carruthers, which gave her the class championship and the automatic bid to state.
In the clean-and-jerk competition, Cyr had a 135 total, which was 10 pounds better than what she lifted at the previous week’s District 6 meet. That put her in second place heading into the bench press. Carruthers and Johnson each had a clean and jerk of 145.
Cyr, who had a 160 bench at the district meet, did 150 on her first attempt, but was then unsuccessful on attempts of 155 and 160. Still, she had the second-best bench total in the class and was able to finish tied with Carruthers and Johnson, who each had a bench total of 140.
The state finals will be held Saturday, Feb. 17, at R.P. Funding Center in Lakeland. Cyr will lift in the second flight, which begins at 3 p.m.
Union’s Riley Gibson will compete at state as well after earning an at-large berth. At-large berths were determined by comparing the totals of the second- through 10th-place lifters at the four regional meets.
Gibson placed third in the 119 class at the Region 2 meet, but actually had the second-best overall total of 235 (110 clean and jerk, 125 bench). Her bench total was 5 pounds greater than what she lifted at the district meet.
If Gibson’s overall total was 5 pounds greater, she would’ve tied champion Rylie Blankenship of Bradford and runner-up Savannah Cothren of West Nassau and been awarded the championship due to the weigh-in tiebreaker.
Gibson will lift in the first flight at the state meet, which will begin at 9 a.m.
The Tigers’ Emma Handley also competed in the 119 class, finishing in a three-way tie for 12th and officially placing 14th with a 200 total (100, 100). Both bench and clean-and-jerk totals were 5 pounds greater than what she did at districts.
Holly Halfacre was 14th in the 110 class with a 180 total (100, 80), while Tai Allen was 17th in the 129 class with a 225 total (115, 110). Allen had a 5-pound improvement in both the bench and clean and jerk from her totals at the District 6 meet.
The first- and third-place finishes by Cyr and Gibson resulted in Union placing seventh in the team standings.
