With the postseason just three weeks away, Keys lifters are adding plates and getting closer to their maximum lifts in hopes of bringing home district gold. Both teams are working on their weight class lineups, with some shuffling of the lineups to maximize each school’s chances of winning down the line.
Coral Shores and Gulliver Prep traveled to Marathon on Feb. 28 for a tri-meet. The Fins were first in team scoring in both the traditional and Olympic events. Coral Shores claimed second in Olympic lifts. Liam Bursa (119 lbs.) and AJ Johnson (219) were double winners for the Hurricanes, with each athlete winning both events. Jordan Henderson (139) won the Olympic event in his weight group while Xavier Johnson (183) was first in traditional. For Marathon, Chase Leird (129), Damian Staciewicz (145), Tanner Ross (199) and Braulio Garcia (238) were double winners. Matthias Martinez-Velez (139) won the traditional event and Max Childress (183) was the top lifter in Olympic.
Ross, who happens to be the younger brother of two-time state qualifier Mikkel Ross, has been doing some heavy lifting of his own. His dual wins were not only solid enough to win his weight class, but led all lifters at the meet using an algorithm which scores an athlete with calculations of weight lifted against his body weight.
Ross’ 245-lb. clean and jerk, a lift which factors into both the traditional and Olympic events, was the top weight lifted at the meet, despite the fact that there are three heavier weight classes beyond him. Ross has consistently won at least one event using the mathematical formula and is only getting stronger as the season progresses.
Right behind him was Coral Shores’ Johnson, whose 250-lb. bench press tied for the top weight benched at the meet. That, combined with a consistent clean and jerk, have helped him score high marks over the course of the season. Marathon’s Childress and Damian Staciewicz shared the third spot, with Childress claiming the Olympic event’s number three spot and Staciewicz scoring higher in traditional. Both teams have two more meets before the postseason begins at the end of the month.
