KEYSTONE HEIGHTS - Keystone Heights High graduate Mason Dicks had to come back from a sixth-place state championship finish in his junior year to a splendid. Still, excruciatingly close region and state championship wins in his senior year.

The keys, said Dicks, as he returned to his alma mater Friday to officiate lifts at the district 7-1A championships, is believing in the process under coach Lantz Lowery.
"He's the key," said Dicks, the 1A Unlimited champion in 2022 with a massive 730-pound total. "He has the plan mapped out from day one when we walk into the weight room. It's not rocket science, but you have to be there every day. That's the key."
Dicks, who started lifting in seventh grade, noted that the vibe of having not outright won both titles last year; the Class 1A traditional title, but second in a tie in Olympics scoring with South Sumter as former 2A champion Suwannee High is now a Class 1A program, is a motivating factor for the 2024 team.
"For sure, this team is motivated to bring both trophies home," said Dicks. "I talk to them and work out with them and that vibe is there."
For Lowery, the mindset of potential candidates for the latest Keystone Heights weightlifting team is something that has grown to legendary status as the years have progressed and the state title trophies have cluttered up the Indians' trophy case.
"It is a special kind of cat that walks through the door and is confident that he can do what we do every day for just 15 minutes of glory," said Lowery. "It borders on insane the work that this team does to prepare. This morning, we were here at 6:30 a.m. doing a workout, then returned way before the start of today's meet doing a 24 set of bench press."
Dicks also cited that the 2024 team differs a bit from his 2022 team in one aspect.
"This team has a lot more focus," said Dicks. "We were locked in, but these guys are very focused on their technique and it's not all about just throwing big weights around."
Dicks revealed Lowery's secret sauce as just one thing.
"Reps on reps on reps," said Dicks. "It is doing more reps than you can think about so that when you are tired, it's just muscle memory kicking in."
The transition from multiple reps to the massive weights that the Keystone Heights team hoists comes from the training of every little muscle in the body.
"During lots of reps, like 75-80 percent max, you train the small stabilizer muscles," said Dicks. "This team trains when they are tired. Some of it is mental, most of it is doing the 20-25 reps at 75 percent then adding five or 10 pounds."
Dicks noted Lowery downplays most of the season's progress until the post-season where he has mastered the numbers.
"We are just told to get all nine lifts (three per technique; Snatch, Clean and Jerk, Bench Press)," said Dicks. "When the team won in 2014, we had no individual champions but we scored a lot of points with guys in the top 10. Bring more guys, score more points, and get a chance at a record. Fifth and sixth places get two and one point, it all adds up."
Lowery reiterates the win part of the contest but gives his guys a free option to go big.
"We just had a kid who was going to win his weight class after his second lift and he asked, asked, to go to 285 on the third lift," said Lowery. "Get the win, if you feel it, go for a record or a personal best. Team first."
The aura of the Keystone Heights weightlifting legend has grown over the past five years and Dicks acknowledged that that itself is one of the motivating factors.
"When Keystone Heights shows up, you know what is coming," said Dicks. "You hear coach Lowery in the warm-up room yelling during a workout-level warm-up while others are just chilling out. You hear him barking during lifts about foot placement, head placement, explode, steady and freeze and hold hold hold."
"My freshman and sophomore years, we were not so hyped, but my junior and senior year, the school was getting it about what we were doing and how hard it was to keep winning state titles," said Dicks. "There a lot of siblings that have come through the program and there is great energy to the school when we do what we do. When our classmates started coming to meets and would lift a 45-pound weight and realize there were six of them on the bar that we lifted, that got us some street cred."
Lowery says his main push is to have his kids be confident to do what is necessary to win.
"We had a guy today have a sloppy clean, but he stood up and was shaking his head, then he missed the jerk," said Lowery. "I simply asked why let the negativity enter your head, you finished the clean, now reset and finish the lift."
Lowery analogized his strategy from a football perspective with a simple scenario.
"You get blocked to the ground early in a play, but the ball carrier heads downfield and you stay on the ground," said Lowery. "Get up, chase and make the tackle downfield and prevent the long touchdown."