- February 14, 2026
As Flagler Palm Coast weightlifting coach Duane Hagstrom was capturing junior Nya Williams' potential state record lift on video, he yelled encouraging words to his 119-pound lifter.
“Come on Nya. Hit it. Hit it! Stick it,” Hagstrom shouted.
Williams had just about clinched her first of two state championships on Wednesday, Feb. 11. Now, with her last clean-and-jerk lift, she was attempting a state record 210 pounds. She had come close twice in earlier meets. This time, she locked it in.
The first time she tried 210, I told her it will be there when it matters,” Hagstrom said. “And it was.”
The crowd at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland cheered. Hagstrom yelled “Yeahhh! Yeahhh!” and jumped up and down. Williams jumped into his arms. In the moment, Hagstrom forgot to press the stop record button and his phone continued to record as it fell out of his hand.
Williams won the Class 3A 119-pound state championships in the two competitions: Olympic (combining snatch and clean and jerk lifts) and traditional (clean and jerk and bench press). She totaled 365 pounds in both competitions, winning Olympic by 55 pounds and traditional by 35 pounds.
With the use of two formulas based on lifts by body weight, Williams was named Lifter of the Meet in both competitions.
“Pound for pound,” she’s definitely the strongest I’ve ever coached,” Hagstrom said.
Williams has been accepted into USA Weightlifting’s National Team Program. She won three gold medals in the youth division at the USAW National Championships last June. This year, she’s moving up to the junior division.
A day after returning home from Lakeland, Williams was back in school and still had her medals draped around her neck. She spoke to us about winning and the support she received in the arena and on social media.
How does it feel now that you’ve had time to savor the moment?
It feels pretty insane. I kind of went into the meet knowing I was going to win with my numbers, but it didn't really hit me until after I hit my last clean and jerk. which was my 210. It was such a great feeling.
Coach Hagstrom was videoing, and when you did it, the phone went flying.
Yeah. I ran up to him. He was jumping up and down. I jumped in his arms, gave him a huge hug. It was so great. All my teammates, my girls, were standing around me. Girls from other schools, parents, people I don't know. Almost the whole entire room was standing behind me, supporting me. It was insane.
Weightlifters seem to support each other even as they’re competing.
The tight-knit weightlifting community is so neat. I think I experienced islightly more t because of my social media [@Nya_lifts on Instagram, where she has 18,000 followers]. It brings people from across the state together, brings people from different states together, and it makes you realize, y’all deal with the same struggles, y'all are part of the same sport, y'all do the same thing every day, work your butts off, and y'all are here for the same reason. And that's to win, show people what you're capable of and overall, have fun.
Have a lot of people outside of school and the community sent you congratulations?
Probably everybody! Throughout social media, in person, family, friends, people I don't know. It's felt so good to know that I have such a community around me.
That state-record lift clinched your first state title. How did it feel in the moment?
I jumped into Coach's arms automatically. Happy tears poured from my eyes. I ran up to my Aunt Stephanie, and I gave her the biggest hug, and I ran through the stands. I had people saying, congratulations, people giving me hugs — people I didn't even know. And then, people asked to take pictures with me left and right. I took a whole bunch of photos with girls. We posted them on Instagram. And then I was like, I’m not done yet, I’ve got another title to win. I need another medal. Then going into bench (press), Coach said our main thing is not to get a new personal record, it's to win another title. I ended up making all three of my bench presses. My highest was 155, just an easy weight for me. But if a girl wanted to beat me, they would have had to bench 210, which was not happening.
It’s kind of funny, this was my third year at states. I placed fifth in Olympic style my freshman year. My sophomore year, I placed second in Olympic and fourth in traditional. This year, double firsts, big golds. Last year, it was just me and one other teammate. This year, we had five of us. So, I'm really glad that they had that experience, even though two of our girls were sick. But they really pushed through to do their best.
Did you get emotional on the podium?
Feeling them put that gold medal around my neck, it just felt so right, so amazing, such a perfect feeling. It was like, this is what I've been working for. And then the second one came along. I just felt everybody screaming my name and hollering. It made me feel really good on the inside.
What's the next competition?
I’ll compete again in Nationals in June. This year, I will be a Junior instead of a youth, so I will now be competing against 18 to 20 year-olds even though I am 17. I turn 18 in November. In October, I compete in the Pan American (championships) in Mexico. I’m hyped for that. [She’ll need to reach a qualifying total, but she’s close]. In December, I have the Team USA training camp. I’m super excited for that, to train with everybody and be a part of the team. There are a lot of opportunities right there within my touch. I'm thankful to have my coaches, Duane Hagstrom and Kenny Rosa and Amanda and Bart Houselander, and to my aunt. I'm really thankful that I have these people to help me through these opportunities.
Have you taken your medals off yet?
I take them off to go to sleep, that’s about it. Whenever I get done with a meet, especially a big meet, I can't hang them up right away. I’m just not ready to put that event behind. I’ll take them off after school probably, when I get home after work tonight. It'll probably be time to hang them up.
Where do you work?
I'm a gymnastics coach at Palm Coast Gymnastics. I never did gymnastics. I’m self-taught. I teach the little kids, 5 to 7-year-olds and 8 to 11-year-olds. They're, like, “oh, my coach is strong,” and that makes me feel really good.
And you never did gymnastics?
No, I did not. Part of me wishes I got into it, but I'm happy where I am now. I wouldn't take anything back.
