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Orange Belt Conference boys weightlifting champions. PHOTO/J. DANIEL PEARSON
Behind gold medal efforts from sophomore Michael Ziss and senior Noah Carr, the St. Cloud Bulldogs are Orange Belt Conference champions once again as they swept both the Traditional and Olympic style team titles in boys’ weightlifting on Friday at Harmony High.
Ziss, who will be among the favorites to win a Class 3A state title in April, absolutely dominated the 119-pound class with a combined 380-pound lift total to win by 130 pounds. Carr was also a double winner for the Bulldogs, taking the 219-pound class in the Olympic (520 pounds total) and the traditional (625).
The Bulldogs posted five champions, with Caleb Perez (183-pound class), Dylan Hayes (199) and Conner Howes (UNL) joining Ziss and Carr.
Hayes’ total of 245-320565 was the top weight of any lifter in the Olympic competition; while Ziss’ 380-pound total would have also won the next two highest weight classes.
St. Cloud’s 87 team points out-distanced host Harmony (59) for the team title. Osceola and Liberty tied for third (26).
Harmony had three Olympic champions: Brayden Shelton (139), Cooper Richards (154) class and Santos Torres (129).
Liberty’s Kevin Hill (169) and Joshua Fabian (154) were winners.
Harmony actually had more individual champions than St. Cloud in the Traditional competition, as Dominic Trombetta (129), Shelton (139), Brayden Adams (183), Anthony Rodriguez (199), and Josh Moss (238) all won championships to give the Longhorns five weight class winners; compared to three by St. Cloud.
The Bulldogs’ superior depth proved to be the difference. Each team was allowed to enter two lifers in each weight class, with the top six lifters earning points. St. Cloud scored eight or more points in seven weight classes; the Longhorns scored eight or more points in four classes.
“Overall we were pleased to win both the Olympic and Traditional team titles,” St. Cloud coach Cory Aun said. “We didn’t do as well in the lighter classes that I thought we would do, but we had several guys come up big in the other classes. Lance (Rodriguez) winning in the traditional at 169 was huge for us and Noah and Michael getting double wins also went a long way towards our success.”
St. wins also gave St. Cloud a sweep of the sport for the year, as the Lady Bulldogs won the traditional and Olympic titles in girls’ weightlifting in the winter.
District meets will be held next weekend, with regional meets being held April 6-8. The state championships are at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland April 14-15.
“Normally we move some people around at the OBC meet to maximize potential team points,” Aun added. “We really didn’t do that this year. We will keep people at the same weight class for districts and our goal is to simply get as many lifters as possible through to regionals.”
