Osceola’s Zanquina Ellison earned second championship

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
With a pair of state weightlifting championships on her resume, Osceola High senior Zanquina Ellison joined a small list of multiple champions from Osceola County.
Sara Hansell won back-to-back titles for St. Cloud in 2006-07 at 154 pounds. The only male weightlifter to win two state titles was St. Cloud’s David Stamper in 1996-97 at 183 pounds.
Ellison’s total lift of 330 pounds at the Florida High School Athletic Association state meet at the Kissimmee Civic Center in February brought her the 129-pound title, and at the same time made her the Osceola News-Gazette Weightlifter of the Year.
“It feels good to be a champion,” she said.
Ellison also won in 2009 at 119 pounds, when she set state records for the bench press (175) and total lift (330) at that weight class.
The only disappointment at this year’s state meet was that she didn’t set records in the clean and jerk or for the total lift, as she intended.
“I could have done better, but I’m happy,” she said.
Ellison can make a claim to being perhaps the best weightlifter ever in Osceola County by qualifying for the state meet all four years of her high school career.
She placed fourth at 110 pounds as a freshman at St. Cloud High, and she could have easily finished second by playing it safe on her final lift of the clean and jerk. But, she loaded the bar with 165 pounds, more than she had lifted to that point, to try to win the state championship.
“The way I saw it, I was there to win,” she said.
She was favored to win the state title as a junior, but a wrist injury prevented her from getting a grip on the bar in the clean and jerk.
“She couldn’t clean it. We thought we had it taped up and she did fine with it in the bench press, but it’s a different motion in the clean and jerk and it just didn’t happen,” Osceola weightlifting coach Eric Pinellas said.
The disappointment Ellison, known around the OHS campus as “Z,” experienced paid off as she worked hard during her senior year to prevent another disappointment.
“She was determined to get back and win it,” Pinellas said. “She could have clean and jerked 175 (at the state meet) and tied her record, but she wanted to break it. That’s why she was a little upset with herself.”
Ellison’s goals after graduation are lofty: to become a member of the USA Weightlifting Team and to compete at the Olympics.
She spent her holiday break in 2008 at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs after winning a Junior Olympics National School-Age Championship.
She plans to work with St. Cloud coach Cory Aun to prepare for upcoming Junior Olympics competitions.
“Qualifying for the Olympics is one of the most difficult things you can do,” Aun said. “You are competing against great athletes from all over the world for very few spots.”
Poinciana senior Kandra Anderson placed second at 183 pounds with a 335 total lift.
Harmony senior Melissa Albert was third at 139 pounds with a total lift of 320 pounds.
St. Cloud’s Iliana Bonilla (101) and Annie Barberi (110), and Osceola’s Tynia Gaither (119) also qualified for the state meet.

Lifter of the Year: Zanquina Ellison (Sr., OHS).
All-county team: St. Cloud: Iliana Bonilla (Jr.), Annie Barberi (Sr.). Harmony: Melissa Albert (Sr.), Lauren Harris (Soph.). Osceola: Tynia Gaither (Sr.). Poinciana: Kandra Anderson (Sr.), Kiera Johnson (Soph.), Bianca Brown (Soph.). Liberty: Kendra Hooks (Sr.).