OAKLEAF - With a strong performance from senior Kathryn Ward, for a second major tournament, the Fleming Island High girls weightlifting team flexed their way to the Clay County girls weightlifting championship title in both disciplines—Olympics scoring and Traditional scoring—Wednesday, Jan. 7 at Oakleaf High.

Fleming Island won in Olympics 97-43 over Ridgeview with Middleburg third at 37 with the Golden Eagles winning in Traditional 83-55 over Middleburg with Ridgeview third at 44. Ward, at 139 pounds and with a Power of Christmas Tournament title at Suwannee over the Christmas break, was joined again at the top of the podium with Ridgeview sensation Emily Silva, who won in the 101 weight class in both disciplines.

"We are taking this meet with a few objectives, " said Fleming Island coach Sean Coultis. "We want to get all nine of our lifts and we want to gauge how the girls feel getting near their personal best lifts. We have districts and regions coming and we are defending our title and chasing the one we didn't get."

Last year, Middleburg took the Traditional title—which features the bench press as the deciding factor in scoring; Olympics including Olympics Snatch and Clean and Jerk, both similar technical lifts; and Traditional combining Clean and Jerk and Bench Press.

"Last year, we weren't as good in the bench press as Middleburg was and, over the summer, we worked our butts off to improve in that aspect," Coultis said. "Kathryn, who unfortunately was in the same weight class as Emma Heck at Clay, has been on a mission to get the gold medal with Kyla (Marshall at 101 with Silva) and Haley (Elkins at 129) expecting to be on the state podium."

For Middleburg, an immense graduating class from the Traditional state champion team has left them with new faces and new bodies in key spots led by McKinzy Alexander at 110 and Reilly Herren at 129. Middleburg coach Rhiannon Weiskopf has a stable of strong upper weight girls that could make an impact during the playoff run as well.

"We are bringing back a lot of strong returners, but we also graduated a lot of state medalists," Weiskopf said. "We're really excited about going back to state. Isabel Pifer has stepped up to be a great lifter in our upper weights. We have a lot of new seniors this year."

Alexander, as state qualifier last year, was in a strong duel with Ridgeview's state medalist in Jada Hill with Hill winning in Olympics 260-235 totals and Alexander flipping Hill in Traditional 275-265 with a 135-125 bench press differential.

"We had a long Christmas break where we practiced, but we are looking for nine for nine lifts," Weiskopf said. "Kinsey and Trinity are doing a great job. We probably got three or four medals possible at state right now."

Hill, Marshall, Alexander and Silva, plus Middleburg's Trinity Woodley were all state qualifiers last year. For Ridgeview coach Addyson Mauldin, the tenacity on her team bodes well for competing in the district to state runs in the next few weeks. Mauldin noted that Fleming Island won a dual meet with her Panthers 47-43 and 59-31 on Dec. 15.

"I tell them don't focus on who is the biggest targets. I think they know who is who," Mauldin said. "We just do what we do and let the results talk."

Silva, also a Power of Christmas winner at Suwannee, kept a slight gap on Fleming Island's Marshall in both disciplines to keep her winning ways intact with a possible explosive challenge through districts and regions. Silva was a 240-230 winner of Marshall in Olympics and a 240-235 winner in Traditional.

"She's a rock-solid competitor," Mauldin said. "She has worked so hard to be as good as she is now."

Mauldin tempered down the level of competitiveness for the county meet.

"I'm not going to say if we came here to lift our best lifts because districts are coming," Mauldin said. "Let's just say, we want to see where we are and where we can go with a little extra motivation. Today is not the day to lose a district title. Today is fun, we challenge ourselves, be smart, be consistent to be peaked for districts and regions."

One lifter Mauldin sees as a state potential medalist is Jazmin Carabello at 183, who was dominant with a 330-315 win over Oakleaf's Alanna Smith in Olympics and a 360-315 in Traditional.

"Jazmin got second at the Power of Christmas, but that girl who won is in another class so we won't see her again," Mauldin said. "I told my girls that the girls at Power of Christmas are like top USA lifters and that they should be inspired to see how they compete and the precision needed to be that good."

Mauldin's optimism since taking over the Ridgeview program comes from her analysis of who did what last year and what's going on now.

"I have a few girls that I knew what they could do from last year and seeing the jump in their performances this year," Mauldin said. "When you go to big meets like that, you get more scrutiny on the platform so go in wanting to execute perfectly."

Clay finished fourth in both disciplines with 23 and 21 points, respectively, led by 169 Brooke Hamilton with a third in Olympics and a second by body weight in Traditional to Fleming Island's Ava Hernandez. Both Hernandez and Hamilton totaled 310 in Traditional with Hernandez, lighter at weigh-ins, declared the winner by rule.

At 199, Fleming Island's Zahaviah Sanders and Middleburg's Lilly Williams were in close contact with Sanders winning Olympics 300-275 and Williams taking Traditional 360-350. Coultis highlighted his upper weightlifters with Unlimited rising star Sahara Gordon waging a close battle with Oakleaf's Genesis Carter in both disciplines—290-280 in Olympics and 320-300 in Traditional. Oakleaf, though, is Class 3A to Fleming Island's Class 2A.

In Class 1A, Keystone Heights got top performances from seniors Kylee Scott, Ashlyn Brown and Chloe Still with Still second at 139 in Traditional and seventh in 169. Scott was sixth in 101 just a step ahead of teammate London Williams. Ava Herman was fourth in Unlimited. Keystone Heights also got a fourth and fifth at 110 from Virginia Baxter and Annie Blair.

St. Johns Country Day School, also in 1A, had a small contingency of lifters in the Traditional scoring—Sarah Mejias in 101, Xiaoxing Troxell and Kate Staten in 119, Brooklyn Butler and Emery Schneider in 139, Addison Wagstaff and Addison Kipnis in 154—with former Clay High state champion roach Rodney Keller taking over that program.

District meets are scheduled for the week of Jan. 19-24 with regions Jan. 28-31 and the state championship meet Feb. 11-13 at RP Funding Center in Lakeland.

District 1-3A districts: at Mandarin, Jan. 23 at noon; REGION at Pace, Jan. 29

District 3-2A districts: at Middleburg, Jan. 21 at 2:40 p.m.; REGION at Baker County, Jan. 29

District 6-1A districts: at Keystone Heights, Jan. 21 at 3:40 p.m.; REGION at West Nassau, Jan. 31