St. Augustine girls weightlifting coach Joel Brighton did not know how many consecutive county and conference championships Bartram Trail had won until his squad lifted against the Bears in the first meet of the season last month.
“I saw the T-shirts,” Brighton said. “Five-time county, conference champs.”
At the time, Brighton thought this could be the Yellow Jackets’ year to end that streak.
“I felt like we could have a historic year at St. Augustine High School,” the Jackets’ second-year coach said.
St. Augustine took both titles Wednesday night at the county/conference meet at the Yellow Jackets’ gym. The Jackets edged Bartram Trail 48-45 for the St. Johns River Athletic Conference championship and also topped the Bears 71-58 for the St. Johns County championship.
St. Augustine’s Madalaine Cunningham (101-pound class), Frankie Sefcik (119), Caitlyn Hutchings (129), Taylor Sweat (138) and April Hull (183) won both conference and county championships, while Julianna Simonds (154) won a county championship.
“For three years we watched Bartam win,” said Cunningham, who set a school record with a 120-pound bench press and had a 230-pound total. “This is my senior year, and we got to win. It’s awesome.”
Bartram’s Alexi Bauer (110), Savannah Parker (154), Jasmine Powell (169) and Jocelyn McManus (199) all won county titles, but none took first in conference.
“Winning five years in a row, we were really loaded,” Bartram Trail coach Marc Nadeau said. “This year we have a lot of first-year lifters. St. Augustine has always been knocking on the door, and this was their year. We raised the bar at this meet, and we should be proud. I’m proud of the girls.”
Menendez finished third in the country standings with 41 points. Creekside was fourth among the six county teams with 28 points.
Matanzas finished third in the 11-team conference standings with 35 points, followed by Fleming Island (29), Middleburg (19), Orange Park (15) and Menendez (14).
Menendez’s Cera King won both titles in the unlimited weight class with a 170 bench and 150 clean and jerk for a 320 total.
Sweat, a two-time state qualifier, set a personal record with a 160 bench and finished with a 300 total.
Hutchings also set a personal record in the bench at 140 pounds and set a school record in the clean and jerk at 135 for a 275-pound total.
Brighton said Cunningham, Sefcik (130-135—265), Hutchings and Sweat were expected to sweep their weight classes, but Hull was somewhat of a surprise. Hull tied with Bartram’s Ray Gaddis with a 270 total but won because she weighed in at a lower weight.
“We’re really solid in the lower weight classes,” Brighton said. “There were only two weight classes where we didn’t get points in and one is unlimited where we don’t have a lifter. I’m probably more impressed with those girls who stepped up to get points. With a three-point difference (in the conference standings) that was huge.
“I love this group of girls,” Brighton said. “They work hard all year.”
Perhaps the most satisfying result of the meet was Bartram’s Emily Uruburu finishing second behind Cunningham in the 101-pound class with a 205 total. Uruburu had surgery to repair a torn labrum on Sept. 1 and returned to lifting just three to four weeks ago, she said.
She finished fifth at state in the 110-pound class last year and hopes to work her way back by district next month.
“I didn’t think I’d be able to lift (here),” she said. “I was cleared over a month early, so that was very exciting news. I’m totally healed. I’m feeling great now.”
Courtesy of: The St Augustine Record