The Class 3A state weightlifting meet was double sweet for a pair of Osceola County athletes as St. Cloud’s Julian Sykes and Harmony’s Isaac Balado came home with a pair of gold medals as champions.
Sykes culminated his dominant senior year in the 154-pound weight class, as he hoisted 225 pounds to win the snatch competition by 30 pounds. Sykes’ teammate, Kevin Hill, took third place with a lift of 195.
In the traditional meet, which consists of the bench press and the clean-and-jerk, Sykes once again dominated his weight class. His total of 615 pounds was 70 pounds more than silver medalist Isaiah Rivers of Flagler.
Sykes, a senior, completed a total postseason sweep, winning both events at the Orange Belt Conference, district, regionals and state.
“Julian has just been dominant all season long,” Coach Cory Aun said. “He pretty much had every competition won when he completed his first attempt.”
Balado (495-pount total) was nearly as impressive at 129 pounds, as he won the traditional by 50 pounds over second place Nicholas Puelo of East River and also won the snatch with a lift of 170. He joins Nick Sardoni (2008) as the second state weightlifting champion in Harmony school history.
“This meet was a great redemption for Isaac. If he had not bombed out on his clean-and-jerk attempts at regionals last year, he would have won states as a junior,” Harmony coach Nick Lippert said. “I was ecstatic that he came back and won double gold this year. Two of our seven state qualifiers made the podium and we had several others hit personal bests, so overall it was a great meet for the Longhorns.”
Several other local lifters took all-state honors by placing in the top seven.
Bulldog Nathanael Combs took double all-state honors with a third place finish in the traditional (570) and a sixth place finish in the clean and jerk (215). Noah Carr was also a double medalist for St. Cloud, taking a pair of fourth place finishes in the traditional (615) and snatch (220) at 199 pounds.
In addition to Hill’s third place finish at 154, St. Cloud also put additional lifters on the podium with Sebastian Piniero-Jirau taking seventh in the traditional at 119 and Kaleb Perez taking sixth at 183. Harmony’ Justin Isaraphanich placed sixth in the snatch at 154.
Harmony’s Daniel Watson was involved in a six-way tie for fourth place with a 185-pound lift in the 219-pound snatch weight class. Ties are broken by the lifters actual body weight (lightest lifter wins), and Watson’s body weight slid him down to ninth place.
For the team competition, St. Cloud ended the meet with a pair of top 10 finishes in the 3A Championship. The Bulldogs were fourth in the snatch, and in the traditional, St. Cloud finished seventh with 14 points, trailing champion Flagler Palm Coast (24), Niceville (21), Navarre (20), Pace (16), Spruce Creek (15) and Creekside (15).
“Happy and little frustrated at the same time,” Aun said about his team and the outcome. “We had a lifter win two state championships and we put four kids on the podium in both the traditional and the snatch. Still I thought we had a real chance to win the team championship in the snatch, unfortunately we had a few mistakes that costs us a higher finish. But the whole state meet experience was a little frustrating. It’s been in the Florida panhandle for a couple of years, and unless you are located west of Tallahassee, it is a really tough travel. There were also some organizational issues that I believe need addressed with the equipment and officiating. Still, we had a solid performance and I’m proud of our accomplishments.”
