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St. Cloud's Conner Howes won both the traditional and Olympic events in the unlimited weight classes Friday to help the Bulldogs to the Orange Belt Conference weightlifting team championship. PHOTO/KATIE WILLIAMS
For a third consecutive year and fifth time in the last seven, St. Cloud is the Orange Belt Conference boys weightlifting team champions. Friday, the Bulldogs won both the Olympic (clean-and-jerk plus snatch) and traditional (clean-and-jerk plus bench press) titles at Harmony’s Butler Gym.
Although both Harmony and St. Cloud posted four individual champions in the 10 Olympic weight classes, the Bulldogs posted three second-place finishes and seven third-place finishes to tally 87 points ahead of Harmony (67) and Poinciana (31).
The traditional was much closer. The teams took turns taking the lead, and each had four champions, and it was the points that the Bulldogs picked up at the bottom of the roster that allowed them to edge Harmony for the team title, 75-67.
“Tonight was about the team,” St. Cloud Coach Cory Aun said. “We felt pretty good about the Olympic discipline but we knew the traditional was going to be a tough competition. Nick (Harmony coach Nick Lippert) does such a great job with his kids and Poinciana, Liberty and Osceola all had some dudes. We didn’t do as well as I thought we would do in some weight classes, but we definitely had some guys step up, hit some lifts and score some valuable points for us.”
The meet was also important for the end-of-year Orange Belt Conference All-Sports Trophy. With the win, St. Cloud picks up the first-place points and cuts into Harmony’s all-OBC points lead.
Individually, St. Cloud junior Mikey Ziss was the star the meet. A state champion last year in both disciplines, Ziss lifted 185 in the snatch and 250 in the clean-and-jerk to total 435 pounds in the traditional – a total that would have won the next three weight classes. The 250-pound clean-and-jerk unofficially tied the state record for that weight class (official state records must be established at the state meet).
Ziss was equally impressive in the traditional. He hit five of six of his attempts – lifting 215 in the bench to go with his 250 in the clean-and-jerk to total 465 pounds, winning his weight by almost 200 pounds over second place finisher Jayden Green-Alemany of Harmony (145-135-280).
In addition to Ziss, St. Cloud double gold medalists Jonathan Morales (154 pound class) and Conner Howes (unlimited). The Bulldogs picked up single championships by Raiden Hsu (183-Olympic) and Jayden Perez (183-Traditional).
Brothers Louis and Anthony Rodriguez played a huge role in Harmony’s second place finish in both disciplines, posting double wins in the 199 and 219-pound weight classes.
“No question they are our team leaders,” Lippert said. “They feed off each other and inspire all our lifters. They are the heart and soul of our team.”
Jason Isaraphanich took double gold for Harmony at 139; while other first place finishes for the Longhorns came from Santos Torres (129-Olympic) and Dominic Trombetta (129-Traditional).
Poinciana and Liberty each posted a pair of double winners, as Eagles football standout Noah Otero won at 169 pounds and Chargers standout Joshua Fabian (238) did the double.
Weightlifting’s postseason begins next weekend. The Class 3A, District 13 meet will be held at Harmony Friday, with Osceola, St. Cloud, and Tohopekaliga participating. Celebration and Poinciana will lift at the 3A, District 9 meet at Davenport Ridge.
“From this point forward our sole focus will be to advance as many lifters as possible through to regionals,” Aun said.
Olympic Team Scores: 1. St. Cloud (87), 2. Harmony (67), 3. Poinciana (31) 4. Liberty (17), 5. Osceola (12),6. Celebration (7), 7. Gateway (4), 8. Tohopekaliga (0). Olympic Weight Class Champions: 119: Mikey Ziss (SC); 129: Santos Torres (Har); 139: Jason Isaraphanich (Har); 154: Jonathan Morales (SC); 169: Noah Otero (Poin); 183: Raiden Hsu (SC); 199: Louis Rodriguez (Har); 219: Anthony Rodriguez (Har); 238: Joshua Fabian (Lib); UNL: Conner Howes (SC).
Traditional Team Scores: 1. St. Cloud (75); 2. Harmony (67); 3. Poinciana (27); 4. Liberty (21); 5. Tohopekaliga (13); 6. Osceola (10); 7. Celebration (7); 8. Gateway (0). Traditional Weight Class Champions: 119: Mikey Ziss (SC); 129: Dominic Trombetta (Har); 139: Jason Isaraphanich (Har); 154: Jonathan Morales (SC); 169: Noah Otero (Poin); 183: Jayden Perez (SC); 199: Louis Rodriguez (Har); 219: Anthony Rodriguez (Har); 238: Joshua Fabian (Lib); UNL: Conner Howes (SC).
