Topic: News:Port Charlotte Athletes Compete at Sunshine State Games

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Port Charlotte Athletes Compete at Sunshine State Games
By Colin Downey

The Sunshine State Games served as both a summer tune-up and a launching pad for a handful of Port Charlotte athletes this past weekend in Miami.

A trio of Pirate girls weightlifters stormed the weightlifting competition on Saturday while PC grad Adam Anceume fought his first amateur boxing match on Sunday.

The Florida Sunshine State Games were held over several days last week as a sort of mini olympics for Florida athletes in a variety of sports.

Samantha Kaufman, Geena Jasinski and Jaime Moore, all a part of Port Charlotte's girls weightlifting team which finished third in the state last year, each competed in different weightclasses.

Jasinski took second place in the 69 kilo-plus division with a clean lift of 77 kilos and snatch lift of 46 kilos, a total of around 270 pounds.

"I didn't go heavy because I have nationals next week," she said. Jasinski earned third place at last year's high school state meet in the 183-pound division with a total of 340 pounds.

Moore was the only lifter in her weight division, but her gold medal was not unearned. Her clean of 67 kilos and snatch of 39 kilos were both personal bests.

Kaufman, who only began the sport in February, finished third in the 53-kilo division. She was excited about her effort, and the Games themself.

"This really helped a lot with my clean and jerk technique," Kaufman said. She will join Jasinski this week at the school-age national tournament in Detroit.

Anceume's first bout as a fighter didn't go as he hoped, losing the three-round fight on points to Dante Harper.

"He looked real good, he just didn't let his hands go enough," said Marc Hager, Anceume's trainer. "He's still in that wrestling mode."

Anceume was a district-champion wrestler for Port Charlotte last year, his senior year. Hager said that while Anceume connected with a few good combinations, that Harper was a little more willing to let down his guard in order attack.

"I thought he was going to pull it off, but the other guy was just a little quicker with his punches," Hager said.

David Temple, a 12-year-old who attends Heron Creek Middle, had been training for eight months to hopefully make his debut at the Games. But he could not be matched up with another fighter in his weight class and had to watch.

"It's kind of aggravating," he said.