MACCLENNY - With five Clay County schools, including multiple state champion Clay High, loading up on host Baker County High School, it was no surprise that area athletes garnered a bucket load of gold medals at the FHSAA District 5-2A girls weightlifting championships held Thursday at Baker County High School.

Clay High junior double defending state champion Emma Heck again won Top Lifter Olympic and Top Lifter Traditional.
With Middleburg earning district titles from four athletes in the Traditional lifts and three winning titles in the Olympic lifts, the Lady Broncos, under coach Rhiannon Weiskopf, won both sides of the championships; 60-51 over Fleming Island in Olympic and 71-48 over Fleming Island in Traditional.
"I was surprised, you can never expect to win because you never know what will happen with lifts," said Weiskopf. "I knew how strong our team was going in and excited for the opportunity to go against some amazing teams. Competing with them only makes us want to be better."
Winners in Traditional for Middleburg were Trinity Woodley (101), Arianna Seibel (110), Caylee Johnson (154) and Autumn Pelfry (Unlimited) while in Olympic, district champions were Caylee Johnson, Emily Herren and Autumn Pelfry.
For Fleming Island, in Traditional, titles went to Bradi Johnson (119), Kathryn Ward (139) and Leah Anderson (183) with all three doubling up with Olympics titles.
For Ridgeview, third in the Olympics with 37 team points, gold medals went to Jada Hill (101) and Deja Hill (110) with both second in Traditional.
For Clay, junior double state champion Emma Heck dominated as expected with wins in Traditional by 50 pounds at 129 and 60 pounds in Olympics at 129. Clay also got titles to Ansley Lyda (199) in both disciplines.
For Orange Park, the best finish was Alohilani Richburg in Unlimited with a third-place finish in Traditional and Olympics.
Baker County edged Ridgeview, 38-37, for third in Traditional.

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Region Schedules
Top lifters from each district advance; plus 16 at-large lifters in each weight division depending on totals.

Region 1-3A (OHS) at Flagler Palm Coast, Thurs., Feb. 1, 10 a.m. start
Region 2-2A (MHS, RHS, FIHS, OPHS) at Leesburg, Sat, Feb. 3, 10 a.m. start
Region 2-1A (KHHS, SJCDS) at Chiefland, Sat., Feb. 3 11 a.m. start

State Championships Fri.-Sat., Feb. 16-17 at RP Funding Center in Lakeland, FL.
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Oakleaf dominates District 2-3A weightift

By Randy Lefko
Sports Editor

OAKLEAF - Six individual titles in Traditional and seven in Olympics gave the Oakleaf High girl's weightlifting team a dominating performance in earning District 2-3A team trophies in both disciplines Friday morning at Oakleaf High School.
Oakleaf lifter Nya Russell with two individual titles was named Top Lifter Traditional and Top Lifter Olympic.
Oakleaf beat out Mandarin and Sandalwood in the Olympic scoring; 71-42-39, while besting Mandarin and Atlantic Coast in Traditional; 76-48-35.
In Traditional, Oakleaf got wins from Kikko Washington (101), Lida Simons (110), Nya Russell (119), DeJean Mote (154), G'Amyia Aiken (183) and Christiana Beasley (Unlimited).
In the Olympics, Oakleaf got wins from Katelyn Stinson Bartly (101), Aaliyah Cameron (110), Nya Russell (119), Danielle Gilbert (129), DeJean Mote (154), Ilanda Benayon (169) and Danielle Ibe (199).

Keystone Heights eeks out two 1A titles

By Randy Lefko
Sports Editor

KEYSTONE HEIGHTS - Following the footsteps of their boy's weightlifting team successes, the Keystone Heights High girl's weightlifting team got handfuls of top-five finishes to finish as district champions in Olympic lifting and a share of the district title in the Traditional at the District 6-1A girls weightlifting championships held Friday at Keystone Heights High School.
Keystone Heights won just one individual title in Olympic scoring with Paige Harrington winning at 183, but edged out Baldwin and St. Johns Country Day School 57-55-29 for the team title.
In Traditional, Harrington won again with teammate Chloe still adding at title at 139 with Keystone Heights tying with Baldwin 42-42 and Union County second at 26 tied with Newberry. St. Johns was third with 22.
For St. Johns, individual titles in Traditional and Olympics went to Sofia Conde at 110 while in Olympic while, in Olympic, defending Olympics state champion Addison Frisbee won her specialty at 129 by 30 pounds. St. Johns got a second Olympic title from Gabi Oceguera at 139 who beat Still by 35 pounds.
Keystone Heights, in Olympic, had two top 10 finishers in eight weight classes while, in Traditional, the Lady Indians had five weight classes with two top 10 finishers.
For St. Johns, in just their third season, Spartan coach Justin Frisbee had weightlifters in all by two weight classes in both disciplines.