KEYSTONE HEIGHTS - With 120 points the maximum a team can accrue at a district, region, or state championship event in weightlifting, Keystone Heights High's boy's team put down an astounding 111-point effort in winning both the Olympics and Traditional titles at their district 7-1A championship meet on Friday at Keystone Heights High School.

"It's pretty simple," said Keystone Heights High weightlifting coach Lantz Lowery, at the start of an unprecedented fourth straight state title run for the Indians. "We put a sheet together of every athlete at the start of the season and ask them to add just five pounds each week. The idea is that when we get to this stage, the weight is not a big surprise and is attainable."
For Lowery's troops, won with the 111 team points over a very strong Palatka that was runner-up with 54 and 51 points, respectively.
"The upcoming regions is going to be a slugfest," said Lowery, who travels to Suwannee High on Saturday for the region 2-1A championship with the Bulldogs the defending team champion in Olympics last year, 49-29 over a tie with Keystone Heights and South Sumter for second, with Keystone Heights the Traditional champion, 41-35, over Suwannee.
Suwannee, in their district 5-1A meet, won with 107 points over Trenton, runnerup at 36 points in Traditional, and 112 in Olympics with Fort White second at 48.
In district 6-1A, West Nassau won both disciplines with scores of 81-53 over Fernandina Beach at Olympics and 74-24 in Traditional over Fernandina Beach.
In district 8-1A, Williston topped Santa Fe 78-36 in Traditional and won over Bronson in Olympics 93-33.
For Keystone Heights, top lifters for the day were Trey Jeffries, at 238, in Traditional with teammates Ben Ulsch (169) and Jayden Goodman (219) second and third, and, at 169, Ben Ulsch in Olympics with teammates Wyatt Van Zant (138) and Jeffries second and third.
"My job is to keep the team positive," said Jeffries, a defending individual state champion for Lowery at 219 in Traditional with a 645 total last year and an already massive 705 total this year. "We all have bad lifts along the way, but it is important to learn from it and get the next one. The key to our strength at Keystone Heights is exactly our strength and we just keep putting up nine good lifts per guy."
In 2023, Keystone Heights won the region 2-1A title over Suwannee 56-53 in Traditional and was second in Olympics 74-54 to Suwannee with the third-place finishers at 21 and 14 points, respectively.
"That's the battle," said Lowery. "We have to stick a few more pounds in the Olympics where they are the best team in the state and hope for a mistake or two."
In the district lineup on Friday, in Traditional, Keystone Heights had individual titles at 119 to Tyson Baxter, at 129 to Colton Hollingsworth, at 139 to Wyatt Van Zant, at 154 to Davin Adams, at 169 to Ben Ulsch, at 199 to Zane Leger, at 219 to Jayden Goodman, and at 238 to Trey Jeffries.
In Olympics, titles went to Baxter, Van Zant, Adams, Ulsch, Leger, Goodman, Jeffries and, at Unlimited Tyler Duncan.
Lowery reiterated that his team has discretion on going big with weights with one stipulation.
"Win your weight class, then go big," said Lowery. "We get to state and we are going to put our numbers. Then the other teams have to beat us. Our guys are in their element when they get there because they have been training to be close to max when we get there. When you have to chase numbers, you make mistakes and we win."