Coral Shores and Marathon chalked their hands and fastened their weight belts on April 11 at the FHSAA 1A District 16 Championships, held at Key Largo School. When the final lifts were tabulated, the Hurricanes were crowned dual district champions, while Marathon finished third in both events. Eight individual Keys athletes earned gold medals, securing their spots at regionals and remaining in contention for state medals.
Coral Shores’ Kyle Derobertis won both events in the 129-pound class, totaling 280 pounds lifted in Olympic and 325 in traditional. Mason Aussubel was the Hurricanes’ other dual winner, lifting 265 in Olympic and 315 in traditional in the 238-pound class. At 219, Fredy Flores and Nicholas Calderon split titles, with Flores winning traditional (485 pounds) and Calderon taking Olympic (360). Ekon Edwards added another gold for Coral Shores with a 405-pound effort in Olympic at 199.
Marathon’s Max Childress was the Dolphins’ lone dual champion. Competing at 183 pounds, Childress won traditional with a 540-pound total and Olympic with 450. Isaak Vallejo captured a district title in traditional at 199 pounds with a 570-pound lift. Matthias Martinez-Velez rounded out Marathon’s champions, winning the 139-pound traditional competition with 400 pounds lifted.
Other notable performances for Marathon included Jason Doss, who placed third in both events at 119 pounds. Evan Toman (129) finished second in traditional and third in Olympic, while Roland Gonzales (199) took third in both. Trevor Wofsey (Unlimited) earned silver in both events to round out the top Dolphin finishers.
Top Hurricane finishers included Jake Companioni, who earned silver in traditional and bronze in Olympic at 169, and Aaron Lykins, who mirrored that performance at 183. Edwards added a silver in traditional, while Flores and Calderon each earned silvers in their weight class, Flores in Olympic and Calderon in traditional.
The eight district champions automatically advance to regionals April 22 at Keys Gate Charter School. The remaining athletes must await results from the other three district meets to determine the wildcard qualifiers.
NATALIE DANKO and TRACY McDONALD/Keys Weekly
