Well over 100 high schools from all over Florida were represented at the FHSAA 1A State Championships held in Lakeland last week. When the chalk cleared, Marathon was the No. 2 team in the state for traditional lifts, just six points behind this year’s traditional winner in Wewahitchka High.
In the Olympic events, Marathon was in seventh, and the Fins weren’t alone in the top 10; Coral Shores ended in a six-way tie for ninth. The success of the Keys teams came from a full year’s training by some very dedicated athletes, many of whom will return home with new hardware around their necks. In all, Keys lifters received 11 state medals, an impressive accomplishment for small schools with relatively new programs.
The talk of the town in the Middle Keys was whether junior Justice Lee could defend her state titles in the 183-pound class. All three of Lee’s lifts improved in the offseason, but a dominant athlete from the panhandle quietly dropped into Lee’s weight class, giving her a run for her money. Worse yet for what her coaches call the hardest-working athlete they have had the pleasure of coaching, the other athlete’s top lift was the clean and jerk, which plays a role in both the traditional and Olympic events.
Lee took matters into her own hands and pulled off a personal-best 170-pound snatch lift to pull ahead for an early lead in the Olympic event. For reference, the only other athlete to match that lift was the state champ in the Unlimited class. Lee added 205 pounds to her total in the Olympic event in the clean and jerk lift, but missed her third lift. That effort could have put her in a tie for first, but she had to settle for a silver medal in the event.
Her 205-pound clean was the second-best heading into the traditional event, which combines that lift with the bench press. Her opening attempt at 170 on the bench was good, but she would have to stack on some plates in order to win gold and defend her title. Lee added a pair of fives and pressed 180 for the win.
As if a gold and silver medal and a two-time state champ wasn’t impressive enough for a little school on an island, Marathon fielded three more state medal winners, two of whom were in the same weight class. At 101 pounds, Ella Dunn and Ayme Maradiaga managed to snag three of the 12 total medals in their class. Dunn earned a pair of fifth-place medals, while Maradiaga won bronze in the traditional event. Dunn’s 115-pound clean lift placed her on solid ground for both categories and Maradiaga’s 120-pound bench press helped propel her into third. Both lifters clean and bench more than their own bodyweight.
Marathon’s final medalist was Ella Evans, who earned a sixth-place medal in Olympic lifts and fourth in traditional lifts in the 129-pound class. Evans did not miss a single lift, with her best weights settling at 115 pounds in the snatch competition,155 in clean and jerk and 145 on the bench. Evans’ medals made it seven in total for the Fins.
Coral Shores earned four medals of their own at the competition. Jennille Arias returned to the Keys with a pair of medals, one silver and the other bronze. Arias’ final lift in the snatch competition sealed her third-place finish in Olympic lifts. After missing the first two attempts, Arias snatched 140 pounds to put her in the running. She missed lifts one and two in the clean and jerk contest, too, putting any hopes for a medal at risk; both the Olympic and traditional events include the clean lift. On attempt three, Arias got the signal that her 180-pound lift was good, securing the bronze state medal for her in the Olympic 169-pound class. All three bench presses were good lifts, and her final bench of 190 pounds put her firmly in second for a silver medal to complement the bronze.
Arias was not the only Hurricane to bring home a medal; Sydney Eysenbach won fourth in Olympic and sixth in traditional in the Unlimited class. Eysenbach’s lifts included a 150-pound snatch, 165-pound clean and 190-pound bench. Joining Eysenbach in the Unlimited category and in the top 10 in Olympic lifts was Vanessa Gabriel. Her 115-pound snatch and 155-pound clean put her in 10th place.
