FPC wins sixth consecutive Five Star Conference girls weightlifting title

Colleen Haaf said she felt her knee buckle on her final clean and jerk lift. She couldn't complete the lift, but she did complete the meet and wound up winning a championship at the Five Star Conference girls weightlifting championships on Thursday, Dec. 15 at Flagler Palm Coast.

Haaf was one of three FPC lifters to win titles in the traditional competition as the Bulldogs won their sixth consecutive conference title. FPC also won the Olympic competition. Olympic lifts are snatch and clean and jerk, while traditional counts the clean and jerk lift as well as the bench press.

New Smyrna Beach finished second in both competitions. FPC won Olympic handily, defeating New Smyrna 55-38. But the traditional competition was close with the Bulldogs topping the Barracudas 48-41.

With his team competing in the Power of Christmas meet at Live Oak Suwannee the following day, FPC coach Duane Hagstrom held back some of his lifters at the Five Star.

"It almost backfired on me," he said. "New Smyrna is definitely going to make a lot of noise at the 2A state championships."

FPC's Aryannah Rosa (119-pound class) and Brianna Tucker (129 pounds) took first-place medals in both the Olympic and traditional competitions. Tucker did just one lift in each of the the three disciplines.

Haaf won the unlimited title in the traditional competition after injuring her knee while attempting a 165-pound clean and jerk. She still finished second, behind her teammate, Zoey Gotera, in the Olympic competition.

Hagstrom said Haaf had to be helped to the bench for all three of her bench press attempts. She hit all three, setting a personal record of 160 pounds on her final attempt for a 315 clean and jerk/bench press total. Gotera was the runner-up in unlimited traditional with a 305 total.

The Bulldogs' Chloe Long (169) and Midlyne Thomas (183) each placed second in both the traditional and Olympic competitions. Madeline Brinker (101), Nereyda Campos (110) and Leila Turner (139) also took second-place medals in the Olympic competition for FPC.

Seabreeze finished seventh in traditional competition with five points and eighth in Olympic with three points. Mainland placed ninth with two points in both competitions.

FPC finished 10th in traditional at the Power of Christmas meet. Reigning 3A state champ Navarre won the title followed by Clay and reigning 1A state champ Suwannee. Rosa (fourth place), Tucker (fifth), Thomas (fifth) and Turner (eighth) all placed in their weight classes.