LIVE OAK — Area boys weightlifters hoisted away and got through the first of three big steps to a shot at possible state titles as districts tournaments finished this weekend.

Keystone Heights, Clay and Oakleaf came home with titles. Two among the throngs of lifters now heading to region tournament for the second step to Lakeland and the state championships were Keystone Heights' Elijah Mize and Oakleaf's Noah Shevchook, both defending state champions who led the charge with dominating performances in defense of their titles.

"I don't worry about the other guys in my weight class, I just do me," said Shevchook on a recent radio spot at ClayRadio.com's Clay County Sports Report. "I'm in a new weight class, bigger and stronger, and I'm just focused on executing my lifts and letting the other guys chase me."

Shevchook, the Class 3A state champion last year at 154 pounds, is now at 169 pounds and won district 3-3A titles in both Olympics and Traditional scoring at Nease High on Saturday. Oakleaf won the team title in Olympics and was third in Traditional.

In Class 2A, where Clay County is represented in two separate districts, Middleburg High's boys weightlifting coaches John Stilianou and Benjamin Traywick knew they were walking into the lion's den when they headed to Suwannee High for their district 3-2A championship tournament and just wanted to see how their Broncos boys competed.

"This is like the SEC West a few years ago," said Stilianou, referencing the Southeastern Conference football lineups that included Alabama, Georgia and LSU and have annually produced championship trophies. "Suwannee is just so deep and strong, we want to see the boys compete. We get some good lifts; seconds, thirds, fourth, and that gets us more guys to regions and hopefully state. A second here is a win anywhere else."

Lifters from Middleburg and Ridgeview who advance to regions will join wrestlers from district 4-2A with Clay, Fleming Island and Orange Park for the region 2-2A championships at Suwannee High on Saturday, April 25.

Stilianou's premonition became fruitful with the Broncos finishing second, 78-54, in Olympics to Suwannee High while Columbia, in Traditional, bumped their long-time football rival, 70-65, in Traditional with Middleburg third. Top finishers for Middleburg were Sam Craven at 183 and Harris Jammes at 129, both with district titles in both disciplines. Craven won on body weight with a tie at 475 total with Baker County's Jayce Bartron in Olympics.

Craven was the region champion in Traditional last year with a 580 total and won Saturday at 630. Craven was sixth in Olympics regions last year at 430 and finished at 475 to win the district title. In Unlimited, Middleburg's Trent Pavlus won in Olympics with teammate Logan Tedrick in fourth. Pavlus finished with a 475 total with Tedrick at 440, which could be team points bonanza at regions.
Pavlus was at 515 last year to finish sixth in region.

"I'm impressed that he came here with the team and is competing," Stilianou said. "He had a sore leg this week, so he is manning up for the team."

Ridgeview was also at Suwannee High and got a double district title to Wyatt Moore at 119 in a 290 tie in Traditional 280 in Olympics. The Panthers placed Alex McNair in fourth at 154 in Traditional and Isaiah Fowlkes in third at 199 in Olympics.

In one of the more dramatic finishes of the weekend, Middleburg High's Brad Darnold put up 560 in Traditional only to finish second to Columbia's Garrett Shipley who benched pressed 455 to end the day's action and win with an 800 total. Shipley also won in Olympics with a 630-500 total over Middleburg's Darius Swilley. Shipley was voted top lifter of the day, obviously.

Four titles push Knights to Olympics district title

By Randy Lefko
randy@claytodayonline.com

PONTE VEDRA — With senior defending 154 champion Noah Shevchook doing what he does to earn the top lifter of the day at the D3-3A championship tournament held Saturday at Nease High, it was a flurry of wins in Olympics scoring that got the Knights a team title.

"I think I know what I can do when I lift and I just lift," said Shevchook, the 154 3A champion last year now at 169. "My teammates feed off the momentum we all create when we are on the platform. Last year, it was me, Cristian (Rodriquez, third at 169), Ethan (Simons, eighth at 238) and Ray (Williams, third at 119) who went to state and got a top five finish (fourth in Traditional) with just four lifters."

Shevchook's totals were both nearly 100 pounds more than any lifter in the upcoming region 2-3A lineup at 169.

Oakleaf will compete in their region 2-3A championships at Flagler Palm Coast on Saturday, April 25 with a 9:30 a.m. start time. Oakleaf also finished sixth in Olympics with Lucius Manley eighth at 199, Williams third, Shevchook third and Simons fourth. Rodriquez did not compete in Olympics.

In the district lineup, Oakleaf got wins from Gervens Bonhomme at 139, Shevchook at 169, Abdias Mentor at 183, Manley at 199 and Simons at 238 to beat Nease 74-68 with Creekside third at 37.

Also adding points in Olympics were second place finishes from Daniel Israel at 129, Michael Jimenez at 219 with thirds from Dominic Aliaga at Unlimited and Delaney Hosey at 154. In Traditional, Oakleaf was second to Creekside, 82-63, with Israel, Bonhomme, Shevchook and Simons also winning titles.

Simons had dramatic jumps in his totals with a 670 in Traditional up from his 610 at state last year and a 625 in Olympics with a fifth place 555 in regions last year. Simons is the top total in Olympics in the Knights' Region 2-3A lineup. Simons' 625 is tops to a 595 total out of District 4-3A from DeLand.

Blue Devils win Traditional team title; second in Olympics

By Randy Lefko
randy@claytodayonline.com

YULEE — In one of the closest team finishes in the area of district weightlifting, Clay High came home from Yulee with a district 4-2A Traditional title and a runner-up in Olympics title with a flurry of individual titles in both disciplines.

Fleming Island, third in Traditional, also got a handful of titles led by football ace Brady Digman in both disciplines.

For Clay, with a 65-39 Traditional team title over Bishop Kenny, it was wins from Rex Strickland at 119, Wilson Medina at 169, Skyler Phoenix-Dean at 199 and Touni Saoud at Unlimited that got the team points. In Olympics, Jonathan Flores at 119 was the only Blue Devil champions with Fernandina Beach taking the title in a tussle, 56-51, over Clay with Yulee third at 42 and Fleming Island fourth at 37.

Fleming Island had three individual champions in Olympics with Austin Davis at 139, Landen Dove at 169 and Digman at 183.

Digman's two wins prelude a county rivalry region clash with Middleburg's double district champion Sam Craven. Craven has an edge in Olympics with a 475 total to Digman's 455 with Craven powering in Traditional with a 630 total to Digman's 515.

In Unlimited, Saoud will face off with Middleburg's Trent Pavlus, 485 for Saoud in Olympics to 475 for Pavlus with Hickox's 370 having to face off with Middleburg's Harris Jammes' 400 in Traditional— both district champions. Saoud improved from a 10th in region last year at 590 to a winning 535 total in Traditional.

In Olympics, Phoenix-Dean's 520 total will contend with totals of 500 and 530 from D3-2A and D1-2A. Phoenix-Dean improved from a 450 10th in region last year. Orange Park got a second in Traditional from Terrick Moore at 238.

Indians on torrid path to region, state challenges

By Randy Lefko
randy@claytodayonline.com

KEYSTONE HEIGHTS — Keystone Heights boys' weightlifting went back to a past playbook with numerous weight classes featuring top 10 finishes from two Indians weightlifters and a plethora of individual titles.

Keystone Heights rolled to a district 8-1A title in dominant fashion with a 72-50 win over Father Lopez in Traditional and a 94-68 win over Lopez in Olympics at Keystone Heights High.

Crescent City was close in Traditional with a third at 48, but only 25 for third in Olympics.

Lifters return to Keystone Heights for the region 4-1A championships on Friday, April 24 with a 4 p.m. start.

For the Indians, defending state champion Elijah Mize, a senior, powered the Indians to four 1-2 finishes in Olympics scoring with the Indians taking 119, 129 and 139 with first and second place finishes. Dylan Currington and Otto Sweat got the 1-2 at 119, Mize and Ryland Rozier got the 1-2 at 129 and Colton Hollingsworth and Ayden Nobles got the 1-2 at 139 to fuel the Indians' dominance.

Hollingsworth was chosen as the top lifter for Traditional with Mize second with Father Lopez' Maverick Grimm the top lifter in Olympics with Hollingsworth second. In the upper weights, senior powerhouses Kyle Perkins and Pete Bostic went 1-2 in the 183-weight class with Bostic returning to 183 after a region chase at 238 last year. Perkins dropped down from 199 last year where he was the Olympics region champion.

Also winning at Olympics were Brayden McCall at 154 (second in Traditional), Ben Scott at 199 (third in Traditional) and Andrew Snider at Unlimited (fourth in Traditional).

Winning in both disciplines was also Logan Madden-Moore. Tallon Lybarger was second in both disciplines behind Crescent City's Jaylius Brantley.
In Traditional, where Mize won his Class 1A title last year, Currington, Mize, Hollingsworth, Perkins and Madden-Moore, at 238, all won individual titles.