LAKELAND - In one of the more prolific sporting days in recent Clay County high school sports, area athletes accounted for eight gold medals at Florida High School Athletics Association championship events during the past week with boys weightlifting sharing the spotlight with track and field.

Also among the medal grab was two newly crowned state record holders - one was breaking a 21 year-old mark, the other was a weight total of massive proportions.

For the eight gold medal count, Oakleaf High senior weightlifter Noah Shevchook successfully defended his Traditional scoring state title from last year (at 154-pounds) with a double gold day on Thursday with a Traditional and Olympic style titles for the Knights. Keystone Heights' Elijah Mize defended at 129-pound  Traditional in the Class 1A and Fleming Island senior triple jumper Mikayla Shavers defended her state championship with a record-smashing jump on Friday.

For the rest of the gold grab, the Keystone Heights boys weightlifting team had win for senior 183 weightlifter Kyle Perkins in Olympics and 139 teammate Colton Hollingsworth in Olympics.

On top of all the individual golds, Keystone Heights boys weightlifting recaptured the team state titles in both disciplines, with the Indians winning the Olympics title while being co-champions in Traditional with West Nassau.
"We have always said the the Keystone Heights High weightlifting program standard is state titles," said Indians coach Leavy Alvarez, who succeeded long time coach Lantz Lowery who delivered a legacy of team and individual state titles for Keystone Heights in the last 2000s. "These guys wanted to return to that standard and though it was tough to get the young guys on board in the beginning, everyone came together in the second half of the season and delivered."
Alvarez was able to string Olympics and Traditional team titles at both districts and regions plus a bevy of individual champions from both events.
Shevchook, leading off the Thursday and Friday gold medal chase for area athletes, dominated his 169-pound weight class in Lakeland to, first, defending his Traditional scoring state title of 2025, at 154 pounds, then added a second title in Olympics scoring to avenge a silver medal last year. Shevchook repeated also as the Traditional Top Lifter with his day's work.
"It was just a matter of staying focused on the task at hand," said Shevchook, who follows brother Elijah, who was a 154 state champion three years ago. "I knew I had to get all three lifts in all three disciplines and that whoever was going to chase me would have to do that also. I trusted my process on the big stage."
Shevchook did have one blip for his day with a miss on his first clean and jerk attempt at 305, but regrouped and successfully hit 305 and 315.
"My brother was with me on the floor as a coach and just calmed me down and said focus on the 305, then we can go from there," said Noah Shevchook. "Once we hit the 305, then went to 315 just to have the title in hand. The record in Traditional was a bonus."
In the Class 3A team scoring, Oakleaf finished fourth in Olympics with 11 points behind Pace at 42, Spruce Creek at 25 and Flagler Palm Coast at 21. In Traditional, Oakleaf was third with 19 behind 29 points by Pace and 20 by Spruce Creek.
Mize, in Class 1A, again dominated with his bench press for the Traditional title with three successful lifts; 235, 250 and 255 to force his challengers into weights unknown with almost his entire weight class missing their third lifts trying to equal Mize. Mize's 460 Traditional total won by 20 pounds with his bench press forcing runnerup Raphael Brycen of Rutherford High to attempt and miss at 255.
Mize also finished fifth in Olympics scoring with teammate Ryland Rozier sixth just five pounds away.
For the third repeat of the weekend, Shavers opened her triple jump session after a second place finish in the long jump by just six inches with a 19-foot-4 jump before setting her mindset on the more complex triple jump.
"I wanted to get the long jump gold, too, but the triple jump is my event," said Shavers, who also anchored the Fleming Island 4 x 100 relay squad to an eighth place finish in 48.05 seconds. "When I hit the first jump and got a 42-4, I wasn't even on the board and I knew I could go further."
In her second jump, Shavers flew down the runway, hit her takeoff precisely and seemed to just float before she landed with a new Florida state record of 42-11.5 to break the 21-year-old record of 42-8.75 set in 2005 by Tiara Swanagan of Ed White.
"It was beautiful," said Fleming Island jump coach Konnor Achors. "Everything she did was perfect and that record will stand forever. She hit the board perfect because on the 42-4 jump, awful, she was a foot off the board."
The national high school record stands at 44-11 3/4 by Brittany Daniels of Merrill West (CA) set in 2005.
For the Keystone Heights boys team, Perkins emerged as the second champion for the Indians with his class best of 215 in Olympics Snatch giving him a five pound advantage into the Clean and Jerk.
"We knew the five pounds wasn't alot of room to miss in the Clean and Jerk because there were a lot of good lifters in the 183 weight class including my teammate Pete Bostic," said Perkins. "Pete and I have been friends forever, but when he missed twice at 195, I knew I had to be perfect in the clean and jerk."
Perkins had company after lift one with Huckleberry Smith of Liberty opening at 275 and Perkins opening at 270.
"It's all about the three lifts," said Perkins, who already had 20 gap on Smith from the Olympic Snatch (215-195). "You get tired, lose focus and make little mistakes on the second and third lifts."
Perkins had a second lifter in his target with Bearden Ean of Holmes County opening successfully at 270.
"He went 230 in Snatch and had 15 pounds on me," said Perkins.
In the final two lifts of the clean and jerk, Perkins proved flawless with lifts of 285 and 290 while Smith and Ean both failed on both of their final lifts.
"We preach three good lifts times three different lifts," said Alvarez. "Kyle stayed calm and focused that got the title."
Perkins also finished third in Traditional in a three way tie at 585 with the tiebreaker determined by athlete body weight. Perkins was heaviest of the two in first and second; Braylon Pleas of Marianna and Nate Batrous of West Nassau.
For Hollingsworth, the first champion of the day for Keystone Heights, the top of his 139 ticket came amidst the memory of missing last year's gold at 129 with a very tightly contested field separated by places via body weight; second in Traditional and third in Olympics last year.
On Friday, again with body weight a factor, Hollingsworth tied at 420 with Deigo Neives of Foundation Academy, but was declared champion by a 135.10 - 136.20 pound body weight gap. Neives had a 10-pound gap after Olympic Snatch; 185-175, but Collingsworth answered with a 245 final clean and jerk to tie with Neives missing at 245 after both stuck 235. Collingsworth's final clean and jerk answered a 245 lift from Javier Flores of Glades Central, but Flores was only at 150 for Olympic Snatch.
For the team gold medals, Keystone Heights dominated in the Olympics scoring with a 25-14 win over Father Lopez with West Nassau third at 13. West Nassau and Keystone Heights tied at 20 points apiece in the Traditional scoring with Jay third with 14.