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St. Cloud sophomore Michael Ziss proudly displays his two gold medals from the state weightlifting championships in Lakeland on Saturday. He is pictured with Coach Cory Aun, whose Bulldog team finished in third place. PHOTO/ST. CLOUD HIGH SCHOOL
St. Cloud sophomore Michael Ziss won a pair of state championships, and his Bulldog teammates captured third place in the Olympic discipline at the FHSAA 2023 Class 3A State Weightlifting Championships held Saturday in Lakeland.
Ziss lifted a combined 405 pounds in the clean-and- jerk and bench press to win the traditional 119-pound class by five pounds over Niceville’s Aiden-Ray Simpson. He completed the sweep in the Olympic discipline when with a 380-pound total.
“Mikey was outstanding at the state meet and he’s only a sophomore,” Coach Cory Aun said. “He will have a chance to go down as one of the best in state history. He could finish with six state titles which would be a school record.”
Diver Brandon Hulko currently holds that Bulldog record by winning three state titles.
Ziss’ win spurred St. Cloud to a third place finish with 18 points behind Spruce Creek (26) and Navarre (21).
Kaleb Perez took fifth place in the 183-pound class, Dylan Hayes (199) took second, and senior Noah Carr took third at 219 to join Ziss as St. Cloud lifters earning All-State honors.
Hayes, also a senior, barely missed out on a gold medal. He successfully lifted 260 pounds in the snatch in his third attempt to break the state record in that category by 30 pounds. Jayson Alford of Pace needed what Aun described as a “monster” 335-pound lift on his final clean-and-jerk attempt, and got it, to edge Hayes.
St. Cloud’s Bobby Madden just missed the podium in the 238-pound class, finishing in seventh place in the Olympic.
In the traditional portion of the competition, St. Cloud finished eighth in the team competition with 10 points. Spruce Creek (27), Navarre (23) and Pace finished as the top three teams, Harmony was 16th with six points.
Several other lifters from the county earned All-State honors at the meet. Tohopekaliga’s Samir Murray finished second in the Traditional at 154 with a lift total of 565, and Harmony’s Anthony Rodriguez (199) finished fourth with a 625-pound total.
Of the 200 total Class 3A lifters at the state meet, double gold winner Andres Giron of Windermere was named “Overall Top Lifter” in both the Traditional and Olympic. Ziss was listed as the third best overall lifter in the Olympic class.
“The effort these kids put in all year long is amazing. While many of our guys are multi-sport athletes, there is no off-season in weightlifting,” Aun added. “To compete at this level, these kids are training five or six day a week. We were two lifts away from a runner-up finish in the Olympic and to have a double state champion and four other guys earn all-state was a tremendous accomplishment.”
