Key West’s lady lifters remain unbeaten in intracounty competition after Marathon paid a visit on Dec. 10.
High school weightlifting competitions are fairly straightforward – there are two events, and athletes can compete in one or both. The Olympic competition consists of the total of an athlete’s best lifts on the clean and jerk and snatch. Each athlete gets three opportunities to clear each lift. The traditional event is fairly similar, but the snatch is replaced with the bench press.
The Lady Conchs outlifted the Fins in both the Olympic and traditional events. Key West’s Keily Cardona-Quiche, Caylee Moore, Camila Linares and Aaliyah McLeod were double winners, taking first place in both competitions in their weight classes. Althea Olsen and Courtney Ward split their class, with Olsen winning traditional and Ward taking Olympic. Monea McLeod and Sofia Nafrere split their class as well, with McLeod winning in Olympic and Nafrere winning the traditional event.
For Marathon, Ella Evans, Sofia Konyk, Adelle Bainbridge and Justice Lee Isom were all double winners in their weight classes. Lee Isom was the top overall lifter in the Olympic competition while Evans was No. 1 in traditional lifts. The top lifter is determined via an algorithm which takes an athlete’s body weight and best lifts into consideration. Evans, who competes in the 119-pound class, benched 155 pounds and clean and jerked 150 to boost her score in the traditional event. Lee Isom competed in the 183-pound class and clean and jerked 200 pounds and snatched 165 to rise to the top in the Olympic competition. Both athletes are state medalists with eyes on more hardware this season.
While the Conchs and Fins were dueling it out in Key West, Coral Shores headed north to Gulliver Prep for a meet with Everglades Prep the same day. The Hurricanes easily won the top spot in both events. Emily Hurt, Mira Jones, Karla Guitierrez, Grace Patterson, Lily Ooms, Elaina Kerns and Vanessa Gabriel were all double winners for Coral Shores. Gabriel was the top lifter overall in both the traditional and Olympic events. Gabriel snatched 115 pounds, cleaned 155 and benched 165 in the Unlimited weight class for the wins.
District competitions begin next month, and the season culminates Feb. 11-13 in Lakeland, where the Keys’ strongest young women will test their strength against the rest of Florida.
