Ashley Gentz is no longer the little sister on the Nature Coast girls weightlifting team. These days, she’s leaving her own mark as one of the Lady Sharks’ top lifters. On Wednesday at the county meet held at Weeki Wachee, Gentz claimed a third straight
county championship. Competing at 139 pounds, the senior benched 160 pounds and hoisted 180 in the clean-and-jerk to achieve a personal best of 340 and capture first place in her weight class.
“It’s amazing,” Gentz said. “My older sister Alicia also won three times, so being able to tie that record means a lot. I really look up to her.
“The Citrus meet last month I did the same thing (340), so this week I just wanted to make sure I had those lifts for sure. Next week at district I’ll go for my PR (personal record).”
The Class 1A, District 10 Meet is set for this coming Wednesday at South Sumter. At that point Gentz will begin her quest to become a three-time state qualifier. “It was a great experience,” Gentz said of going to states. “I want to be back there again, experience it one more time before I graduate.”
She has done more than simply compete at states. She’s also collected some hardware, twice earning a medal at 129 for a sixth-place showing in 2014 (140-155—295) and fourth-place finish in 2015 (160-170—330). Additionally, she’s earned three state medals in track and field, including one for taking second in the 400-meter run this past spring. That’s the highest state placing for any girl in school history.
While weightlifting serves as a means to grow stronger for track, Gentz doesn’t short-change the sport. “It’s right up there next to track,” Gentz said. “I like weightlifting just as much as track. I put my whole heart into weightlifting just as much as track.”
She so idolized her sister Alicia, who graduated in 2014, that she joined the weightlifting team to follow in her sibling’s footsteps. They participated in both weightlifting and track together for two seasons, each of them medaling in the two sports back in 2014. “We were on the team two years together and I did everything she did,” Ashley Gentz said. “She helped me. She would be honest with me. She was very blunt with me. If I did something wrong, she told me. She told me right away, this is what I need to do to fix it.”
Alicia Gentz’s graduation left a significant void for Ashley, who lost her workout partner. But now a third sister, freshman Hannah Gentz, has joined the Lady Sharks. “It’s a different sister role for me,” Ashley Gentz said. “I was always the underdog, looking up to (Alicia). Now she’s (Hannah) looking up to me. It’s switching roles for me and I try to do everything I can to be a role model for her.”
She has been a model performer for all the Lady Sharks, having already surpassed last season’s best total from states. The biggest improvement has come in her clean-and-jerk, which she believes may be the result of an increased focus on legs during workouts.
Though she has already beaten her older sister’s best tally at states, Alicia Gentz still has a higher state placing having come in third as a senior. So the motivation to at least match that remains. “I want to go to states again and I want to place higher,” Ashley Gentz said. “My main goal is to place higher than fourth and do better than last year. At states I want a 350 total. I want to be close to that. I’m just doing the best I can.”
Courtesy of: Hernando Sun
Photography by Alice Mary Herden