In what is becoming a wash-rinse-repeat scenario, the St. Cloud girls weightlifting team won its 15th consecutive Orange Belt Conference championship Friday, taking both the Olympic (snatch and clean-and-Jerk) and traditional (clean-and-jerk plus bench press) titles to easily outdistance host and rival Harmony 151-89.
With a fourth-place finish in the Olympic and a third in the traditional, Tohopekaliga took third overall, beating Poinciana in total points, 51-49.
“Tonight was about team points and defending our title,” St. Cloud coach Cory Aun said. “Starting next week at districts, our sole focus will be to advance as many lifters as possible to regionals.”
Aun credited his team’s depth for the championship, but added he was surprised that the Lady Bulldogs posted six individual champions in the Olympic competition.
“We have good depth and have been consistent all year,” the veteran coach said. “But I was really surprised that we won six of 10 weight classes in the Olympic, because there were some outstanding lifters from the other schools. We came up with some surprising performances in that discipline.”
St. Cloud was led by double gold medalists Aubrey Manzo in 101-pound weight class and Autumn Frost (unlimited). Ava Aun (119), Caitlyn Carver (154), Skylar Hsu (169) and Layla Rivera (199) were also Olympic champions, and Nyla Jones (199) won the other individual traditional championship for the Bulldogs. Second-place Harmony had double gold medalists in Jocelyn Rodriguez (129) and Samantha Arscott (183). Tohopekaliga also had two double medalists in Jayleen Sanchez (110) and Julianna Navarro (139).
Harmony’s Nya Flores (154) was determined to be the top overall lifter in the traditional format, outdistancing Navarro (139) in the Sinclair rating 202-200. It was a tight battle for top lifter on the Olympic side, with Tohopekaliga’s Navarro barely edging out St. Cloud’s Caitlyn Carver (188.136–187.449) for the top spot.
All county teams will be participating in districts next week, with Harmony hosting the District 3A-9 meet on Saturday. St. Cloud, Osceola, Poinciana, Tohopekaliga, Celebration and host Harmony will be joined by Polk County schools Winter Haven, Davenport, Haines City and Ridge.
2025 OBC Girls weightlifting championships
Team scores (Olympic-traditional-total)
St. Cloud 78-73—151
Harmony 39-50—89
Tohopekaliga 30-29—59
Poinciana 31-20—51
Osceola 17-18—35
Celebration 14-12—26\
Liberty 4-12—16
Olympic champions (snatch-clean-total)
101 Aubrey Manzo (St. Cloud) 80-95-175
110 Jayleen Sanchez (Tohopekaliga) 105-150-255
119 Ava Aun (St. Cloud) 90-125-215
129 Jocelyn Rodriguez (Harmony) 110-160-270}
139 Julianna Navarro (Tohopekaliga)* 130-185-315
154 Caitlyn Carver (St. Cloud) 145-185-330
169 Skylar Hsu (St. Cloud) 115-150-265
183 Samantha Arscott (Harmony) 100-155-255
199 Layla Rivera (St. Cloud) 100-135-235
UNL Autumn Frost (St. Cloud) 135-200-335
Traditional champions (clean-bench-total)
101 Manzo (St. Cloud) 95-80-175
110 Sanchez (Tohopekaliga) 150-115-265
119 Hailey Harvey (Harmony) 130-110-240
129 Rodriguez (Harmony) 160-120-280
139 Navarro (Tohopekaliga) 185-150-335
154 Nya Flores (Harmony)* 175-175-350
169 Allyanis Hernandez (Osceola) 155-140-295
183 Arscott (Harmony) 155-160-315
199 Nyla Jones (St. Cloud) 135-135-270
UNL Frost (St. Cloud) 200-185-385
*—Top lifters (Sinclair score)
