On April 5, Coral Shores and Marathon sent their qualifying strongmen to Frostproof to compete with the best in FHSAA’s 1A Region 4. And on April 14, four Hurricanes and a lone Dolphin will travel to Lakeland to represent the Keys against the best in the state.
The Hurricanes brought home the runner-up trophy in Olympic style lifting and third-place honors in traditional, with multiple individual champions. Xavyer Arrrington will look to earn a second state championship in his division after winning the regional championships in both Olympic and traditional style lifting. He is ranked first in his division heading into states. Arrington won last year’s snatch competition, which was rolled into the Olympic category for 2023. He matched his state-winning 235-pound snatch at regionals and improved his bench and clean and jerk lifts by 20 and 45 pounds, respectively.
Julian Juvier destroyed the competition in his weight category at regionals, bringing home first-place medals in both lifting styles. Juvier is ranked first in both categories at the state level and leads his closest competitor by 15 pounds in Olympic lifting and 20 in traditional.
Joining Arrington and Juvier in Lakeland will be AJ Johnson and Dantay Diorio. Johnson won the first-place medal in his weight class in Olympic lifting, giving him an automatic bid to states. Diorio was second in his class at regionals, but his scores were high enough to send him to the state meet with an at-large bid.
The final Keys competitor earning a spot on the state qualifier sheet was Marathon’s Thomas Eubank in the traditional event. Eubank was third in the highly-competitive region, earning him an at-large spot at the big meet.
