St. Cloud Lady Bulldogs repeat as OBC weightlifting champions

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HIGH SCHOOL WEIGHLIFTING

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  • Photo courtesy of St. Cloud High School. The St. Cloud girl’s weightlifting team celebrate its 2020 Orange Belt Conference Championship. The Lady Bulldogs had 18 of 20 lifters score team points in collecting their 10th straight OBC Championship.
    Photo courtesy of St. Cloud High School. The St. Cloud girl’s weightlifting team celebrate its 2020 Orange Belt Conference Championship. The Lady Bulldogs had 18 of 20 lifters score team points in collecting their 10th straight OBC Championship.
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Winning 5 of 10 weight classes and using its superior depth, the St. Cloud Lady Bulldog weightlifting team repeated as Orange Belt Conference champions last week.

St. Cloud finished the event with 80 points, outdistancing rivals Osceola (39), Liberty (37) and Harmony (29).

Celebration was fifth (19), followed by Tohopekaliga (13), Poinciana (3) and Gateway (0). There were 10 weight classes and team points were awarded for places first through seventh. Each school could enter two lifters in each class.

It was St. Cloud’s ninth straight OBC championship.

“We certainly had some mixed results in the meet,” St. Cloud Head Coach Cory Aun said. “On the positive side, we won five of the 10 weight classes and had 18 of our 20 lifters score team points. On the other side, we had our best lifter in the 199-pound weight class fail to make weight. We also felt we would have the champion in two other weight classes, but to their credit the Osceola lifter at 101 (Kealonie Vega) and the Liberty lifter at 165 (Emonie Scott) had outstanding performances and won those classes.”

Highlights for St. Cloud included the performance of two-time state finalist Kaylin White at 119-pounds.

White set school records with a 175-pound clean and jerk and for total weight (320). With a 145-pound bench press, White’s 145-175-320 total was 80 pounds better than second place Harmony finisher Reigan Pellegrino (105-135-240). White’s total would have also won the next two higher weight classes.

Hannah Wager set a new St. Cloud record in the bench press at the 183-pound class with a 195-pound lift. Wagner won the class in dominating fashion. With a 195-175-370 total, she took first by 75 pounds over second place finisher Sarah Martin of Osceola (155-140-295).

Other first place finishers for the Lady Bulldogs included Lindsey Pinkerton at 110-pound class (110-120-230), Kendra Zilke at 199 (125-155-280) and Zyanna Henry at the unlimited class (205-185-390). Henry’s 205-pound lift in the bench press also set a new St. Cloud school record.

Second place Osceola put three champions on top of the podium. In addition to Vega winning the 101-pound class with a 120-115-235 total; Haylee Lang took the 139- pound title (135-140-275) and Isabella Pancake came out on top at 154-pounds (165-185-350).

Liberty posted two champions, with Scott winning 165- pounds (155-165-320), and Jasmine Elliote taking the 129-pound weight class with a 135-145-320 total.

The District Championships are scheduled for Jan. 24-25.

Regionals will be contested the following weekend with the State Championships slated for Feb. 14-15, at Arnold High School in Panama City Beach.