Once again, St. Cloud sits on top of the Orange Belt Conference in girls’ weightlifting.
Despite a bit of pre-match worry from their coach, the Lady Bulldogs captured both the traditional (bench press and clean-and-Jerk) and Olympic (Bench and snatch) team titles Friday to claim their 15th consecutive OBC title. St. Cloud won the Olympic discipline with 82 points over Harmony (60) and also edged the Longhorns in the traditional event, 77-62.
The OBC team championship is awarded based on the combined team scores in both events, giving St. Cloud the title with 159 points over Harmony (122). Tohopekaliga (74) was third ahead of Osceola (26), Liberty (20), Poinciana (18), Celebration (17) and Gateway (4).
It was the Bulldogs depth that led the way to the championship; as Harmony had more individual winners than St. Cloud in both Olympic (5 to 4) and traditional (6 to 3). The Bulldogs made up the deficit with 10 second place finishes and eight third places overall. St. Cloud managed the finish despite being without the services of all-state lifter Reese Butler, who was lost earlier in the season to elbow injury.
“Our depth absolutely made a difference,” St. Cloud Coach Cory Aun said. “Both Harmony and Tohopekaliga had some awesome lifters up and down their lineup. With the loss of Reese, we needed some girls to step up and they did just that. We had 40 potential point scorers entered and I think all but three scored points. Getting double wins from Morgan (Van Aucken) and Autumn (Frost) at 199 and Unlimited really helped, but everyone did a great job. Our lifters in the upper classes have been silently doing a great job for us all year.”
The Longhorns posted three double gold winners: Natasia Puchales-Santana (101 pounds), Jocelyn Rodriguez (119) and Madilyn Fitzgerald (154). Other Longhorn OBC champions included Morgan Pasqual (169) and Alexandra Alzarez-Arroyo (183) in the Olympic discipline and Jirehas Chiciana (110), Nya Flores (139), and Samantha Arscott (183) in the traditional.
“Overall, I thought we had a really good meet with 11 champions,” Harmony coach Jordan McLaughlin said. “We seem to be peaking at the right time and look forward to continuing that momentum at districts next week.”
St. Cloud also posted champions with Ava Nasco (129) and Kaylee Milien (139) in the Olympic and Belen Gonzalez (169) winning in the traditional to account for the Bulldogs seven individual champions. Nasco’s win came as she won a three-way tie based on lowest body weight.
Other gold medalists included Osceola’s Dudley Ferrer (110-Olympic) and Tohopekaliga’s Julianna Navarro (129-traditional). Using the Sinclair method, Harmony’s Pasqual (Olympic) and Fitzgerald (traditional) were named the top overall lifters in the OBC meet.
Harmony will host the District 3A-9 meet on Jan 24 where St. Cloud, Tohopekaliga, Celebration, Poinciana and Osceola will also participate. District champions will advance to the Region 2 meet while 16 at-large spots are available for the next best lifters in districts 9-12.
OBC Olympic Champions
Clean-And-Jerk / Snatch
101: Natasha Puchales-Santana (Harmony)
110: Dudley Ferrer (Osceola)
119: Jocelyn Rodriguez (Harmony)
129: Ava Nasco (St. Cloud)
139: Kaylee Milien (St. Cloud)
154: Madilyn Fitzgerald (Harmony)
169: Morgan Pasqual (Harmony)
183: Alexandra Alvarez-Arroyo (Harmony)
199: Morgan Van Auken (St. Cloud)
UNL: Autumn Frost (St. Cloud)
Clean-and-Jerk / Bench Press
101: Natasha Puchales-Santana (Harmony)
110: Jirehlis Chiciana (Harmony)
119: Jocelyn Rodriguez (Harmony)
129: Julianna Navarro (Tohopekaliga)
139: Nya Flores (Harmony)
154: Madilyn Fitzgerald (Harmony)
169: Belen Gonzalez (St. Cloud)
183: Samantha Arscott (Harmony)
199: Morgan Van Auken (St. Cloud)
UNL: Autumn Frost (St. Cloud)
