- April 23, 2024
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When Spruce Creek senior lifter Summer Daraio-Rivera goes to battle, she likes to make sure she looks pretty.
Before the Hawks’ girls weightlifting team took the floor at the Arnold High School gym in Panama City Beach for the FHSAA Class 2A State Championship on Saturday, Feb. 2, Daraio-Rivera put on her makeup.
“It’s my war paint,” she said.
Daraio-Rivera’s eyeshadow and lipstick shimmered with gold.
“I wanted it to match the medal I was going to be receiving,” she said.
Daraio-Rivera bench pressed 165 pounds and clean-and-jerked 160 pounds to capture the state title in the 110-pound weight class. She beat out Hagerty’s Cheyanne DuCharme and her main rival, New Smyrna Beach’s Alexis Oravets.
It was Daraio-Rivera’s second-consecutive state title. She won last year also in the 110-pound class.
“I knew my competition. I knew who was going against me,” she said. “Not that I think I’m so superior, it’s just my lifts are much better than theirs by quite a few pounds.”
"I don't feel like my day is accomplished if I'm not sore. If I can move after a workout, I didn't do my job."
Summer Daraio-Rivera
After winning the title last year, Daraio-Rivera said she entered this season with the goal of breaking records. On Saturday, she lifted with the intent to break the state records for bench press and total score.
Her bench press of 165 broke the previous record of 160. However, Oravets lifted 165, as well, to share the record. Daraio-Rivera also shares the total record of 325 instead of owning it outright.
“With doing what I did this year and all that I accomplished, I am happy,” she said. “I just know that as an athlete, I could have accomplished more.”
She said it took a lot of hard work, determination and confidence to repeat as a state champion. She’s worked out every day since she first joined the Hawks’ weightlifting team three years ago.
And now that she is no longer a lifter for the Hawks, her new goal is to give back to the program that brought out the best in her. Daraio-Rivera said she never would have gotten to this level without the support of past Spruce Creek lifters.
“I try to teach everyone, regardless of who they are, to love the sport,” she said. “I think this is a great sport and a lot more girls should be into it. They can do more than what they’re perceived to be capable of.”
