- April 19, 2024
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FPC's Nick Lilavois lifted 230 pounds in the clean and jerk and won both Olympic and traditional titles in the 129-pound class at the District 3-3A meet March 29 at FPC. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Luke Laura completes a clean and jerk. Laura qualified for region in the Olympic category at 154 pounds. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Kobe Murphy is one of six FPC lifters who qualified for the region meet in both categories. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Nick Lilavois is aiming for two state titles this year after finishing first and second last season. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Kobe Murphy finished third at district in both Olympic (570 total) and traditional (655 total) in the unlimited class. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Dylan Bennett completes a clean and jerk at the district meet. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Nick Lilavois was successful on all three of his clean and jerk attempts at district. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Luke Laura, attempting a clean and jerk, qualified for regional in the Olympic category. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Flagler Palm Coast junior Nick Groth wasn’t at his best on March 29 when he finished second at the District 3-3A boys weightlifting meet.
Losing 13 pounds in five days will take something out of you.
Groth is one of eight Bulldog lifters who qualified for the regional meet Saturday, April 8, at FPC.
Matanzas qualified 19 lifters for the Region 2-2A meet on April 5. Seabreeze qualified four lifters for the Region 2-2A meet.
Matanzas junior Cole Hash not only won district championships in both the Olympic and traditional categories in the 199-pound classification, but he also had the top qualifying totals in the region — 485 pounds in Olympic and 610 pounds in traditional with a 335-pound bench press.
Hash took home a third-place medal at state last year.
Groth took home two individual medals at state last season in the 169-pound weight class. This year, he had been lifting at 183 pounds. But five days before the district meet he asked coach Duane Hagstrom if it would be advantageous to drop back down.
“He texted me on Friday (March 24) during spring break,” Hagstrom said. “And he’s like, ‘Hey coach, do you think it would be in my best interest to drop to 169?’ I was like, ‘Well, how much do you weigh right now?’ He said 179. I was like, ‘that’s 10 pounds, let me do some research. So I started looking at other results, and I saw 183 was pretty loaded.”
Hagstrom told Groth to give it a shot. Groth followed protocols, and three days later, on the first day back from break, he weighed in at 172. On Tuesday, the day before district, he was down to 166.
“As soon as he walked in the door (of the weight room on Monday afternoon) I could see his face was a little drawn. I could tell he’d been working really hard to cut the weight.” Hagstrom said.
After dropping 13 pounds in less than a week, Groth finished second in both Olympic (500-pound total) and traditional (545 pounds) to Creekside’s Brighton Hardeman at district.
“Some of these kids amaze me (in their ability to cut weight),” Hagstrom said. “And they’re doing it safely. It's not like they're not eating or they're sitting in a sauna. They're just following the protocols, which is basically just water manipulation, drinking a lot of water and cutting it off at certain times and cleaning up their eating.
His body was still adjusting, so that’s why he got second. Once he gets a chance to acclimate, that body weight levels off, he’ll be alright. He didn’t lose any strength. — DUANE HAGSTROM, FPC coach on lifter Nick Groth
“His body was still adjusting, so that’s why he got second. Once he gets a chance to acclimate, that body weight levels off, he’ll be alright. He didn’t lose any strength.”
Nick Lilavois won the only district titles for the Bulldogs with a 455-pound total in traditional and a 400-pound total in Olympic in the 129-pound class. Lilavois won a state title and a state runner-up medal in helping FPC win the Class 3A team championship last year.
This year, 16 of FPC’s 26 lifters are freshmen. Their other regional qualifiers were 139-pounder Richard Beltrami in both Olympic and traditional; 154-pounder Luke Laura in Olympic; 238-pounders Charley Perry (both) and Jeremiah Cange (Olympic); and unlimited lifters Kobe Murphy and Kevin Gall in both.
Matanzas had eight district champs, including Hash. Maison Leonard won both titles at 119 pounds; Jaden Sao won the 129-pound Olympic title; Aiden Schissler won the 139-pound traditional title; Seth Clarke won the 169-pound Olympic title; Herby Tima won the 183-pound traditional title, while Lane Chandler won the 183-pound Olympic title; and Daniel DeFalco won the 238-pound Olympic title.
The Pirates’ other regional qualifiers were: Aiden Try (129-pound class), Eddie Luna (139), Jayce Rajai (154), Aiden Langford (154), Shomarion Gaines (169), Bryce Petellat (199), Ahmad Louis-Charles (219), Luke Doner (219); Asim Tariq (238) Chaden Vickery (unlimited) and Peyton Ellis (unlimited).
All of the Pirates’ lifters qualified in the Olympic category. Leonard, Try, Luna, Gaines, Tima, Petellat, Hash, Louis-Charles, DeFalco and Vickery qualified in traditional as well.
Seabreeze’s regional qualifiers included Trip Zimmet (139, Olympic), Tyler Watts (154, Olympic), Luke Cloer (unlimited, Olympic) and Keith Arborgast (unlimited, traditional).
