- December 5, 2025
Brianna Tucker broke her personal clean and jerk record by 15 pounds. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Colleen Haaf won both the bench/clean and jerk and snatch titles in the unlimited class. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Colleen Haaf, second from left, and Zoey Gotera, third from left, finished first and third, respectively, in snatch the unlimited class. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Annie Buchanan hoisted 205 pounds in the clean and jerk. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Kelsey Gocking hit all three of her clean and jerks lifts. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Annie Buchanan, center, may look surprised, but she's always expected to be at the top of the podium. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Aryannah Rosa, second from left, won the snatch in the 110-pound class, while Ella Welker, right, was fifth. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Aun'yale Howard, second from left, won the snatch in the 139-pound class. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Madeline Brinker, center, won the snatch title at 101 pounds, while Gabriella Barros, left, finished fourth. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Aun'yale Howard stands atop the podium for the 139-pound bench/clean and jerk. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Chole Long, second from right, and Sherlande Paul, left, finished third and fourth, respectively, in the snatch in the 169-pound class. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Brianna Tucker, left, and Kelsey Gocking, second from right, finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in snatch in the 129-pound class. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Jada Ortiz, second from left, finished fourth in bench/clean and jerk in the 119-pound class. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Diana Croft, left, finished second in the 154-pound bench/clean and jerk. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Jada Ortiz, left, finished fourth in snatch in the 119-pound class. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Kelsey gocking, second from right, and Brianna Tucker, second form left, took second and third, respectively, in the 129-pound bench/clean and jerk.
Annie Buchanan totaled 440 pounds without completing this 225-pound clean and jerk attempt. v
Annie Buchanan, center, was first, and Miracle Guerrero, left, was fourth in the bench/clean and jerk at 199 pounds. Photo by Brent Woronoff
After the spectators and all of the other weightlifters and their coaches left the building, Flagler Palm Coast coach Duane Hagstrom spoke quietly to his girls weightlifters.
Hagstrom ended the District 4-3A meet on Jan. 19 by announcing that Spruce Creek had won the bench press/clean and jerk title by one point over FPC. The Bulldogs posed for pictures with the second-place trophy and the Hawks posed with the championship trophy.
Hagstrom told his lifters that in 2016 when the FPC boys team finished second in the state, it did not win conference, district or region titles.
Turns out, that bit of information doesn't apply. The scores were recalculated later that night, and it was discovered that FPC and Spruce Creek actually tied for the title with 65 points apiece. That made it two team championships that evening for the Bulldogs, who also captured the title in the new snatch competition.
FPC also won both competitions at the Five Star Conference meet on Dec. 16.
"Coach (David) Nelson (of Spruce Creek) and I are friends," Hagstrom said. "I'm always happy to see them have success."
FPC qualified 19 lifters for the Jan. 29 Region 1-3A meet, which it will also host. Thirteen FPC lifters will compete in both the snatch and bench/clean and jerk competitions. The Bulldogs will have 18 entries in the snatch competition and 16 in the bench/clean and jerk.
"The most lifters we've taken to state was eight," Hagstrom told his team. "I think this year we can probably (qualify) 12 or 13."
Several FPC lifters set personal records at the meet. Annie Buchanan is on track to repeat as the state champ at 199 pounds. Buchanan lifted a total of 450 pounds at state last year and lifted 440 in this year's district meet. She might have been able to match that 450 total, but she decided to move up 20 pounds, from 205 to 225, in her final clean and jerk attempt and didn't hit it.
Brianna Tucker, a first-year lifter, shattered her personal record by 15 pounds in the clean and jerk with a 150-pound lift. Tucker finished third in bench/clean and jerk and fourth in snatch to qualify for both at regional in the 129-pound class.
"Bri had a monster day for her," Hagstrom said. "And she had to cut four pounds in the last two days (before the meet)."
Madeline Brinker won the snatch event at 101 pounds after learning the lift just three day prior to the meet, Hagstrom said.
Aryannah Rosa (101-pound class), Aun'yale Howard (139), Buchanan (199) and Colleen Haaf (unlimited) took home championship medals in both events.
"My main goal every year is not to win the district championship, but to qualify as many as we can and finish as high as possible at state," Hagstrom said.
But he had to admit, the district titles were nice, too.
