On April 22, the strongest young men in South Florida converged on Keys Gate Charter School for the FHSA 1A Region 4 Championships in boys weightlifting. When the final lift was recorded, three Keys athletes brought home a total of six regional championships, and Coral Shores earned a pair of runner-up trophies for their strong performance. Marathon finished in fourth in both the Olympic and traditional competitions, making a solid showing among the 10 teams in their region.
Hurricane 129-pounder Kyle Derobertis was the first to capture a regional title, then made it a sweep in his weight class by winning dual titles. Derobertis performed a 120-pound snatch, 160-pound clean and jerk and 170-pound bench press to win the traditional event by 40 pounds and the Olympic by 35.
Teammate Jake Campanioni was next, capturing his own dual titles in the 169-pound class. Campanioni won the traditional event by five pounds and Olympic by 10 with a strong trio of lifts. He combined a 165-pound snatch with 235 pounds on bench and clean and jerk for his double gold feat.
Marathon’s Max Childress was Monroe County’s final winner. Childress brought home dual titles in his 183-pound class by combining 185 pounds in snatch with 265 on both bench and clean and jerk to outperform his closest competitor by 20 pounds in Olympic and 30 in traditional.
Derobertis, Campanioni and Childress will receive automatic bids to the state championships in Lakeland on May 8, where they will compete at the big show. Regional winners are the only athletes guaranteed to earn a spot at states, but the trio will likely not be alone. At-large bids are still being determined as the rest of Florida’s 1A regions complete their competitions. Several local lifters are in contention for a state berth via wildcard spots.
Marathon’s Isaak Vallejo (199 pounds) and Coral Shores’ Aaron Lykins (183) and Fredy Flores (219) each finished second in their traditional events, and Marathon’s Evan Toman (129) and Matthias Martinez-Velez (139) were third. Vallejo matched the 183-pound winner’s lift total, but the champ’s 2.2-pound weight deficit broke the tie and left Vallejo waiting to hear from the state whether he will qualify.
In Olympic lifts, Lykins and Vallejo were third in their respective weight classes and are not out of the running for a spot at the rack.
In addition to his dual titles, Childress was the strongest Keys lifter in a pound-for-pound comparison. The senior standout cemented his ironman status by finishing fifth overall in the traditional competition and sixth in Olympic, the best places earned by a local athlete at the event.
