A district championship, over a dozen regional qualifiers and the knowledge that the next big meet will take place at home.
Any wonder why Angie Nolan was smiling following Wednesday’s Class 2A-District 16 girls weightlifting meet at Manatee? The Charlotte High coach watched her Tarpons receive the first-place trophy after stockpiling 68 points – the runner-up Hurricanes had 49 – and send 14 lifters to next Wednesday’s Region 8 meet at Charlotte.
The top six lifters in each class advanced.
“We’re pretty excited,” Nolan said. “We went a little conservative (Wednesday) knowing, ‘Hey, you’ve just got to get in the top six. It’s no big deal, we’re going to go real nice and light.’ Some of them weren’t really happy with us saying, ‘Your first attempt is going to be this.’ ‘But why?’ ‘Because we said so.’
“Just get them in.”
The plan worked. Not only will the Tarpons have a huge contingent next week at regional, but they crowned five district champions – Jenna Trainor (110 pounds), Breanna Jacobs (129), Kendall Chavarria (183), Illandria Carmello (199) and Tiffany Dodson (unlimited).
Jacobs, who won a state championship last year competing at 110, finished Wednesday with a combined lift of 350 pounds on her bench press and clean-and-jerk. The next-closest finisher at 129 was Manatee’s Callie Nichols, who totaled 265.
“We were all ready for this,” said Jacobs, a junior.
The Tarpons enjoyed themselves Wednesday after accepting the title trophy, posing for a variety of pictures. Jacobs even got up on a teammate’s shoulders for one.
In the weight room, however, Nolan said the team is all business.
“If you get them to a place where they can all work together and get them to compete against each other in the weight room and at practices,” Nolan said, “that creates a great environment.”
The Hurricanes qualified 12 lifters, the most since coach Rich Lansky took over the program in 2012. Heather Ball (101) and Brooke Schamber (154) took first for Manatee.
Lansky not only praised his girls for how they lifted, but for how hard they worked Tuesday night to help set up for Wednesday.
“But we were smart about who lifted what,” Lansky said, referring to how he made sure his lifters didn’t tire themselves out prior to the meet. “We got a couple of football guys to help out, too.”
Lansky, who ran four national meets when he was at USA Weightlifting (“High school is actually harder,” he said), thanked former Southeast lifting coach K.C. Dunlop, who served as the head official Tuesday.
“It’s tough. That’s the only drawback,” Lansky said of having to run a meet while trying to coach. “But I also look at it this way – it’s a trade off. I can control the atmosphere and know we’re going to have good weights and good bars.”
Venice took third with 23 points. Natalie Deto (129) and Mary Lou Johnson (139) were winners for the Indians.
North Port’s Courtney Purcell (169) also won a district title.
The winner of each weight class at the Region 2 meet clinches a berth at the Class 2A meet on Saturday, Feb. 6, at the Kissimmee Civic Center. The top six finishers in each class have a chance to earn an at-large bid.
Courtesy of: Herald Tribune