With just over a month to go before districts, all three Keys teams met in the middle Dec. 11 for a girls weightlifting meet at Marathon High School. The teams were joined by Somerset Silver Palms for a quad meet, but Monroe County teams reigned supreme.
In total points, Marathon won the Olympic event, which combines athletes’ best lifts in the snatch and clean and jerk competitions. Coral Shores had the edge in traditional lifting, which adds a lifter’s highest attempt in clean and jerk plus bench press. Key West was third in both events.
At 101 pounds, Ella Dunn was the top lifter in Olympic lifts for Marathon while Coral Shores’ Rachel Rusch won the traditional event. Both athletes went deep into the postseason last year and look good to do the same this January. At 110 pounds, Ayme Maradiaga of Marathon narrowly defeated Coral Shores’ Julia Rusch to win both events. Rilynn Richards won both events at 119 pounds and teammate Ella Evans did the same at 129 pounds.
The 139-pound class was split between Key West’s Shylo Sanchez, who won the Olympic event, and Marathon’s Ava Merryman, who won in traditional. Brizni Vargas of Marathon and Alexa Condella of Key West split the wins at 154 pounds. Vargas took first in traditional lifts while Condella had the advantage in Olympic.
The rest of the weight classes had double winners, with Coral Shores’ Jennille Arias outlifting her closest competitor by nearly 100 pounds in the 169-pound class. Arias was a medal winner at states last season and looks stronger today. At 183 pounds, Justice Lee, the 2024 FHSAA state gold medalist in both events, outpowered her closest weight-class competitor by more than 150 pounds in both categories. Lee had the highest overall score last week, as she continues to edge closer and closer to surpassing the school records she set herself last season.
Key West’s Aaliyah McLeod won both events at 199 pounds and in the unlimited class, Coral Shores’ Sydney Eysenbach won both events with Vanessa Gabriel right at her heels. Eysenbach’s 175-pound bench gave her a big advantage over her teammate. Both athletes qualified for states last season, a noteworthy accomplishment for two athletes from the same school within the same weight class.
This week, Coral Shores is at Gulliver while Marathon heads to Doctors Charter to participate in the Queen of the South competition. The final date for regular season meets this year is Jan. 18 with districts beginning Jan. 20. Coral Shores and Marathon are classified in the smaller 1A division while Key West participates in 2A.
