St. Cloud’s Mikey Ziss displays his two gold medals from the OBC Championships. Ziss, a senior, won two state championships last year and hopes to duplicate that in 2025. PHOTO/J. DANIEL PEARSON
Four-time state champion Mikey Ziss won both the Traditional and Olympic disciplines on Friday night to lead St. Clout to the 2025 Orange Belt Conference weightlifting championship. It was the Bulldogs fourth straight OBC boys title, and combined with the girls’ championship earlier this year, gave St. Cloud a sweep of the sport for the school year.
“Obviously we’re excited and proud to repeat as boys OBC Champions,” St. Cloud coach Cory Aun said. “We were a little disappointed we didn’t do better in some of the middle weight classes, but that is all on me. To be truthful, it may be a good thing as it will give us some motivation to do better at districts.”
Whether Aun and the Bulldogs left any points on the platform was inconsequential, as St. Cloud dominated both disciplines – winning 10 of the 20 weight classes and claiming 28 of the 60 total medals available to the eight OBC schools.
St. Cloud started off extremely strong, winning the four weight classes in the Olympic (clean-and-jerk plus snatch); with Brandon Politano (119), Ziss (129), Santos Torres (139) and Kevin Arriaga (154) all coming away with wins. Jack Murillo (199) and Landon Millman (238) later added titles to give St. Cloud six first place finishes in the 10 weight classes.
It was more of the same in the Traditional, featuring the clean-and-jerk and bench press. Ziss took double gold with a win at 129 to join teammates Ayan Lopez (119), Dominick Trombetta (139) and Jason Isaraphanich (154) at the top of the podium.
Ziss, who won both the Traditional and Olympic titles at last year’s Class 3A State Championship to earn Florida Dairy Farmer’s coveted Mr. Weightlifter Award, was the star Friday. He won his Olympic class by 100 pounds more than his closest competitor and was 110 pounds better than the second-place finisher in the Traditional.
“It’s hard to think of any more superlatives for Mikey and his accomplishments,” Aun said. “Four state championships, multiple district, regional and OBC titles, and numerous state records and he keeps adding to those totals. He has already unofficially broke one of his state records by 20 pounds this year.”
There were some other notable accomplishments at this year’s championship. Gateway Coach Marlin Roberts brought just five lifters to the meet, but the Panthers brought home four gold medals as Julian Guzman (219) doubled in the Olympic and Traditional; while Nickolas Cepeda (238) took gold in the Traditional and Elvis Jiminez (169) took first in the Olympic.
Poinciana had three at the top of the podium as Angelo Rodriguez swept the titles at 163 and Michael Garcia won the 199-pound traditional. Harmony football standout Mekhi Ealy was a double gold medalist at the Unlimited weight class; while Tohopekaliga’s Enner Colmenares’ meet-best 295-pound bench press propelled him to victory in the 169-pound weight class of the Traditional.
With first place team finishes in both the Olympic (94 points) and Traditional (97), St. Cloud ran away with the overall OBC team championship with 191 total points. Harmony (54-42-96) was a distant second; followed by Poinciana (33), Gateway (32), Liberty (31), Tohopekaliga (24), Celebration (21) and Osceola (5).
St. Cloud will be strong favorites to remain undefeated on the season when the Class 3A, District 9 Tournament is held at Harmony on Mar. 28. That meet will essentially be a repeat of OBCs as the district is composed of six of the eight county schools. Liberty and Gateway will be at the District 2A-8 meet at East River High on the same day.
Orange Belt Conference
Boys Weightlifting Championships
OBC Overall Team Scores: St. Cloud 191; Harmony 96; Poinciana 33; Gateway 32; Liberty 31; Tohopekaliga 24; Celebration 21; Osceola 5
Olympic Scores (Snatch plus Clean and Jerk): 1. St. Cloud 94; 2. Harmony 54; 3. Poinciana 17; 4. Liberty 16; 5. Gateway 14; 6. Celebration 8; 7. (tie) Osceola 5, Tohopekaliga 5
Olympic OBC Individual Champions
Wt. Class, Name (School) S-CJ-Total
119: Brandon Politano (St. Cloud) 145-170-315
129: Mikey Ziss (St. Cloud) 205-245-450
139: Santos Torres (St. Cloud) 185-240-425
154: Kevin Arriaga (St. Cloud) 185-245-430
169: Elvis Jiminez (Gateway) 210-230-440
183: Angelo Rodriguez (Poinciana) 245-310-555
199: Jack Murillo (St. Cloud) 195-250-445
219: Julian Guzman (Gateway) 235-295-530
238: Landon Millman (St. Cloud) 175-245-425
UNL: Mekhi Ealy (Harmony) 225-280-505
Traditional Scores (Clean and Jerk plus Bench): 1. St. Cloud 97; 2. Harmony 42; 3. Tohopekaliga 19; 4. Gateway (18); 5. Poinciana 16; 6. Liberty 15; 7. Celebration 13; 8. Osceola 0
Traditional OBC Individual Champions
Wt. Class, Name (School) C/J-Bench-Total
119: Ayen Lopez (St. Cloud) 175-200-375
129: Mikey Ziss (St. Cloud) 245-235-480
139: Dominic Trombetta (St. Cloud) 225-235-460
154: Jason Isaraphanich (St. Cloud) 235-220-455
169: Enner Colmenares (Tohopekaliga) 200-295-495
183: Angelo Rodriguez (Poinciana) 310-260-570
199: Michael Garcia (Poinciana) 260-245-505
219: Julian Guzman (Gateway) 295-240-535
238: Nickolas Cepeda (Gateway) 205-275-480
UNL: Mekhi Ealy (Harmony) 280-275-555
