St. Cloud Coach Cory Aun knows it may be a struggle for his team to capture a 12th consecutive Orange Belt Conference championship Friday at Harmony High starting at 5 p.m.
And it is something that he is actually happy about.
“Interest in the sport continues to grow and all the programs in the county continue to get better and better every year, which is a great thing,” Aun said. “This year, I think three or four teams can challenge for the team championship and two or three other schools have shots at individual titles.”
Each team can enter two lifters in each of 10 weight classes, wit h the top six in each earning team points.
It’s St. Cloud’s team depth that, again, makes the Lady Bulldogs the pre-meet favorites. Aun has about 50 girls in his program and hopes as many as 15 of his 20 varsity lifters will score points Friday.
“If we do have an advantage it is in our numbers,” Aun noted. “Last year, we only had two champions in the 10 weight classes but had enough high finishes to win the team title. It could be similar this year.”
St. Cloud’s top competitors include Abby Davis and Kaitlyn Gallagher in the 110-pound weight class, and Aija Diaz and Valentino Marino at 101. Aun also believes his team can also challenge for wins at 119, 126, 154, 169 and 199.
“Our strength is definitely at the lighter weight classes, but I think we have a good chance for wins or high finishes in the other weight classes,” Aun added.
Celebration (45 points) placed second to St. Cloud (59) last year and hopes to improve on that point total this year, CHS Coach Cliff Branch said. “I’m not sure whether we have enough to overtake St. Cloud for the team title, but our program continues to improve every year,” he said.
The Storm returns last year’s 119 OBC champion, Helena “Lani” Huyke, and strong performers in Alexandra Diaz (101), and Fabriana Milan (154) and India Ramos (199).
Harmony, which was just two points behind Celebration last year in third, returns one of the top lifters in the state in Adriana Rosa, who took fourth in the Class 2A State Championship meet last year at 139 pounds.
Upstart Tohopekaliga sent Chassity Llanos-Pedilla to last year’s state meet and she will be definite contender at OBC’s this year. Chloe Parker could content in the unlimited weight class and Yanieliz Ellington has had a strong campaign for the Tigers this year.
“We are a really young program that has shown a ton of improvement each year,” Tohopekaliga Coach Rob Weilert said. “We expect to contend in some weight classes and continue to improve as a squad.”
For the first time, separate OBC team and individual champions will be determined in the snatch discipline.
“The sport is definitely evolving,” Aun noted. “We are hopeful that the bench press competition will be eventually eliminated at the state level and be replaced by the snatch. That would put us in line with how the Olympic sport is conducted. But for now it has been added and will be treated like a separate competition.”
