Osceola County will be well represented at the FHSAA Boys State Weight Lifting Championships this weekend thanks to some outstanding efforts from Harmony and St. Cloud.
The Longhorns, which won both the Orange Belt Conference and the Class 2A, District 9 title in recent weeks, followed it up with a Region 3 Championship last Saturday. The Longhorns posted two automatic qualifiers for the state championships, as Austin Cabot captured the 139 pound weight class and Freddy Sanderson won the 199 pound weight class.
But Head Coach Nick Lippert felt that as many as eight other Harmony lifters would qualify for the state championships as Andrew Carver (119-pound class), Robert Madril (129), and Jason Moss (169) were almost assured of advancing with second place regional finishes; while Justin Isaraphanich (4th place-139), Justin Garza (3rd place-154) and Alex Rosa (5th place-154) were likely advancers as were Anson Pratt (5th place-219) and Sean Paul DeCoster (5th place-219).
The four regional champions automatically advance to states, while the top 16 not regional champions in each class, regardless of region, are also advanced to the state meet.
“We feel fairly confident that we may be able to get eight others to states, but we will not know until all regionals are completed and final results announced,” Lippert said. “My staff and I are very proud of these young men. They have worked hard all year and those efforts are beginning to pay dividends.”
After winning their district crown a week earlier, the St. Cloud boys weightlifting team had an impressive second place showing at its Class 3A regionals and also hope to advance as many as 10 lifters to the state championship in their division.
“We had some tough breaks in the lighter weight classes at regionals, but we had one regional champion and several other outstanding performances,” St. Cloud Head Coach Cory Aun said. “When all results are tabulated, I expect that we may get as many as six to nine additional lifters through to the state meet.”
St. Cloud placed second in the team competition with 34 points – trailing just regional champion Venice (45). Poinciana (6) tied for tenth, Osceola (5) tied for 12th and Tohopekaliga (3) finished in a tie for 15th. Celebration and Liberty had participants but did not have any placers.
The Bulldogs had one regional champion as Julian Sykes absolutely dominated to the 154-pound class. Sykes total of 525 pounds (265 bench, 260 clean and jerk) was 40 pounds more than second place finisher Sean Quillen, of Sarasota High (250-235-485).
Other St. Cloud lifters that should have a good chance of advancing include Evan Maldonaldo who took second place 129 (200-200-400); Aiden McNulty (165-165-340) and Ty Hodge (150-170-320) who placed third and fourth respectively at 129; William Azariah (290-215-555) who was third at 169 and Logan Boone (245-285-530) who was third at 199.
Bulldogs who are on the fence to advance to the state tournament are Slade McKinney (190-200-390) who placed 5th at 129; Anthony Morales (230-155-385), who was fifth at 139; and Noah Carr (275-235-510), who was 6th at 183.
“We’re confident that many of these guys will get through as we competed in an extremely strong and deep region,” Aun added. “Until all the regional results are posted, we won’t know for sure but I have a good feeling about being to take a large contingent to states.”
Other county lifters from the meet most likely to advance include Osceola’s Nolin Eady (280-270-550), who placed 3rd at 183.
