Topic: News: 2008 Florida High School Girl's Championships

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Girls All-Area Florida High School Weightlifting

FIRST TEAM

Brittany Adamek

Spruce Creek

Senior 169-pounder . . . Former state champion truly put in time to return to top . . . Won state title as a sophomore and as a junior last season was runner-up, but went to work and dominated the class en route to her second state title.

Christina Baranet

DeLand

Junior 119-pounder . . . After missing state by five pounds last season she came back with a vengeance . . . Dominated conference and captured state championship with a 310-pound total.

Morgan Candage

Spruce Creek

Junior 154-pounder . . . One of best lifters in area history . . . Won 139-pound state title as a sophomore at Seabreeze . . . Obliterated her state-record total of 340 pounds with two records en route to state championship.

Sara Cowles

Spruce Creek

Senior 129-pounder . . . State runner-up at 129 a year ago, but this year took next step up . . . Captured conference championship and won state title with a 320-pound total.

Mary Fuller

Spruce Creek

Senior 139-pounder . . . Improved in a major way this season, going from a sectional-qualifier to a state runner-up with a 320-pound total . . . Stayed atop one of the most competitive classes in area.

Shaniece Govan

Spruce Creek

Freshman 199-pounder . . . Was second to teammate Elizabeth Ensminger most of season but stepped up when it counts most at the state meet . . . Placed fourth overall.

Kaysie Junco

Spruce Creek

Sophomore 101-pounder . . . Could be three-time state champion before she's done . . . Dominated class, and after placing fourth at state as a freshman stepped up and won state title this season.

Stephanie LaPorta

Flagler Palm Coast

Junior unlimited . . . Set standard in class all season . . . Was top performer at conference and placed 13th at state with a 315-pound total lift.

Maranda Whitley

New Smyrna Beach

Senior 183-pounder . . . Won third Five Star Conference championship, set two new state records and won state title . . . Lifted second-most total weight (425) of any lifter in state history.

Heather Wolfe

Spruce Creek

Junior 110-pounder . . . After winning 101-pound state title as a sophomore, moved up in class . . . Dominated conference and won second state championship with 300-pound total.

SECOND TEAM

Second-team All-Area selections with lifter, weight class, year in school and comment:

Lifter Weigt Year School

Michael Stephenson 101 Jr. Spruce Creek

The skinny: State runner-up would've been a champion had it not been for her teammate.

Jessica Mitchell 110 Jr. New Smyrna Beach

The skinny: Conference runner-up just missed qualifying for state.

Brittni Lewitt 119 Sr. DeLand

The skinny: Huge jump in lifted weight from conference to sub-sectionals.

Bre Baker 129 Sr. Deltona

The skinny: Only tenths of a pound kept state runner-up from title.

Heather Teschner 139 Jr. Spruce Creek

The skinny: Conference runner-up placed sixth at state meet.

Kristian Rainge-Campbell 154 Jr. Spruce Creek

The skinny: Went from eighth at state to runner-up this season.

Patrice Doemer 169 Sr. New Smyrna Beach

The skinny: Former state champion settles for third at state this season.

Lisa Hineline 183 Sr. Atlantic

The skinny: Made huge strides en route to placing ninth at state.

Elizabeth Ensminger 199 Jr. Spruce Creek

The skinny: Battles teammate all season and places seventh at state.

Danielle Stafford UNL Sr. Deltona

The skinny: Conference runner-up just missed going to state.

HONORABLE MENTION

All-Area honorable-mention selections, listed by school, with weight class, lifter and grade in parentheses:

DeLand: 110, Shelby Powell (Sr.), 199 Jessica Ewen (So.).

Deltona: 183, Randi Campis (Sr.).

FPC: Unlimited, Hannah Lucien (Sr.).

NSB: 101, Aqlimiyah Simmons (Jr.), 119, Kori McCauley (Sr.), 139, Alicia Choquette (So.), 154, Courtney Bolduc (So.).

Spruce Creek: 129, Miranda Sheffey (Jr.), 169, Jamie Kargas (Jr.).

Taylor: 129, Kate Daniels (Sr.).

COACH OF THE YEAR

Thomas Bennett

Spruce Creek

Produced area and state-best 12 state-qualifiers, five state champions and two state runners-up . . . Creek won its fifth consecutive state title in dominating fashion again.

How The Team Was Picked

The All-Area girls weightlifting team was picked by News-Journal sports writer Buddy Shacklette, with input from area coaches.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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North Marion's Johnson named lifter of the year

SPARR - When North Marion High School sophomore Lakitta Johnson lifts weights, people flock from all around to watch.

"Everyone was jumping around and screaming," Johnson said, recalling the moments just before her record-breaking lift attempts at the state weightlifting meet in New Port Richey earlier this year.

"It felt good."

In the short, five-year FHSAA-recognized history of the sport of girls weightlifting, there's never been a lifter who could captivate an audience quite like Johnson, the Star-Banner's Girls Weightlifter of the Year.

[attachimg=1]
Lakitta Johnson, 16, a North Marion High School
sophomore, placed first at this year's state
weightlifting meet. She finished second as a freshman.
JANNET WALSH/STAR-BANNER

This season, Johnson set all-time weight class marks for total weight lifted (465) and clean-and-jerk (215). Her marks eclipsed the all-time previous bests in the heavyweight division set by Sarasota Booker's Jessica Reynolds, who totaled 460 pounds and lifted 210 pounds on the clean-and-jerk.

Overall, Johnson improved by 40 pounds from her freshman year, when she placed second in the heavyweight class behind Reynolds.

Her bench press, the lift she said she prefers in competition, went up 35 pounds from last season and helped her dominate the rest of the field by 90 pounds.

"I knew what to expect this time [at state]," Johnson said. "It was much easier this time. I knew what the outcome was going to be."

With two years left, Johnson wants to finish her career with the triple crown of girls weightlifting. To claim that distinction, she needs to secure the bench press record of 275 pounds set by former West Port lifter Latavia Bagley in 2004.

"My goal is to be the best ever," she said. "Both in the county and statewide."

Johnson, who hadn't competed in any sports prior to her freshman year, has made those in Sparr and around the state take notice.

"I wasn't into sports at all," she said. "One of my friends came to me and said that we should try out for the weightlifting team. I didn't really want to, but when I went out and got the experience, I was like 'hey, I like this.' People had always told me that I was strong and I didn't believe them until I lifted in my first meet."

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Hooker Strives To Be The Best
By Larry Bugg

NEW PORT RICHEY - It isn't easy being Brianna Hooker.

The River Ridge High girl weightlifter is trying to be the best in everything she does and that list is long.

The junior was named The Tampa Tribune's Pasco County Girls Weightlifting Athlete of the Year after she took third place at the state meet last winter at River Ridge. She had a bench press of 150 pounds and a clean and jerk of 135 pounds. That was despite the fact that she was bleeding on her neck due to an old wound.

She actually tied for second place but ended up in third because the girl she was tied with weighed a little less than Hooker.

She is also an excellent athlete and manages to squeeze gymnastics and work in the Key Club and Interact Club into her busy schedule.

She has a 3.9 grade-point average. She wants to get a scholarship in gymnastics. She would prefer to attend Bowling Green University or Kent State University.

She was born in New Port Richey and has lived there her entire life.

Her weightlifting coach is grateful that his lifter wants everything just so.

"It's her dedication to everything," River Ridge High coach Mike DeGennaro said. "She is an honor student. She gives up her lunch every day to get her weightlifting workout in. She is in the Key Club, a service club. She is a member of Spanish Honor Society and National Honor Society. She is the vice president for Key Club and is historian for Spanish Honor Society.

"She wants to be perfect. She practices everything like she wants to be the best. She is not happy with herself if she falls short. She is not going to take shortcuts. She is going to do it and be the best she can. She will keep working until she gets it right.

"Coaching her is great."

The neck wound became a distraction at the state meet.

"At one of the sectionals, they had a brand new bar and she cut herself," the coach said. "The bar was sharp. Sometimes, they come out sharp enough that if you put 140 pounds across her chest, it can be a problem. It scraped her pretty badly. She's fine now."

Her last real challenge is to win a state title and DeGennaro hopes it will be next year.

"She placed seventh as a freshman, fourth as a sophomore, tied for second as a junior," he said. "She hasn't lost a conference meet yet.

"She has lifted up a weight class at conference to go against better competition."

Hooker is on the go constantly and always striving for excellence.

"I am a pretty busy person," she said. "I try to do the best I can do. I love to do weightlifting. You have to push to do well. There are no cliques on the River Ridge weightlifting team. It is not a hard sport to do. It helps my gymnastics a lot. Most of the time I do it for fun and to keep in shape."

That state title would mean a great deal to Hooker.

"It means a lot," she said. "You get your name on a wall at River Ridge High. Everyone wants to win. It is a goal."

While she is an excellent gymnast, Hooker has no desire to become the next Mary Lou Retton.

"I don't want to go to the Olympics," she said. "Competitively, I don't dream of going to the Olympics."

She does know what she wants for a job.

"I want to be a physician assistant professionally," she said.

One imagines she may be close to perfect as a physician assistant.

And lifting weights just may help her get to that goal.

GIRLS WEIGHTLIFTING FIRST TEAM

Natalie Marenghi, River Ridge

Ashley Mizrahi, Gulf

Brianna Hooker, River Ridge

Carmen Figueroa, Gulf

Chrystal Rose, Ridgewood

Lauren Heymann, Ridgewood

Jessica Davis, Zephyrhills

Casey Rogers, Zephyrhills

Megan Shoun, River Ridge

Ashley Anderton, Zephyrhills

Coach of the Year: Mike DeGennaro, River Ridge