Topic: News: 2008 Florida High School Boy's State Championships

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Niceville's Jones is the Weightlifter of the Year
By Jared Macarin

When Niceville's Will Jones began lifting weights, he wanted to see results right away.

They didn't come as quickly as he would have liked, but the 11-year-old kept going to the gym anyway - because he didn't want to waste his dad's money.

Eventually, the hours spent in the weight room began to pay off.

Jones has seen plenty of results since, capped by his winning the Class 2A state title this spring in the 154-pound division. Jones is this year's All Sports Association/Daily News Weightlifter of the Year.

"If I didn't go to the gym, it was like money down the drain," Jones said with a smile. "Then I saw results, so I just kept going. (Winning state) was great."

Going to state was nothing new for Jones, also a standout wrestler. He had been to the state weightlifting meet as a sophomore and junior before this year. He also finished his wrestling career with two state appearances, including a sixth-place finish as a senior.

Still, he wanted more as his prep career was winding down.

"I lost to the second-place guy (in wrestling) by two points, so I used finishing sixth as motivation," he said. "Just knowing I had a chance to compete for a state title. That made me disappointed. I didn't want that to happen in weightlifting, so I tried extra hard so it wouldn't happen."

And it was in the weight room that Niceville coach Clint McCrory saw an impressive athlete with an insatiable desire to improve.

"He's a workaholic," McCrory said. "He absolutely outworked everyone around him. It paid off for him in the end. He's just a consummate worker in everything he does. He put in the time and effort to get done what he did."

It wasn't easy in the end, however.

After winning the Section 1 qualifier, Jones entered the state meet second in the rankings behind Spruce Creek's Morgan Kain.

After a 335-pound bench press, Jones was sitting in a good position to claim the gold as long as he put up a big number in the clean and jerk. He did just that, lifting 250 pounds and then watching as Kain could not clean 305 pounds on two attempts.

"I knew I had to get that lift, so I just got psyched up and went for it," Jones said. "Coach McCrory pushed me and got me used to huge weights before I had to do it in competition.

"I knew I could get 250, but I wasn't sure if it would be enough. It turned out it was."

And he knows the work his father, Col. Vince Jones - who lifted for four years at the Air Force Academy - pushed him to do so early in life paid off. Jones used to be a baseball and soccer player, until his father introduced him to lifting and said "adding a little muscle couldn't hurt."

"I love the individuality of it and that you can only get mad at yourself (if you don't succeed)," he said, and then began to smile. "I dreaded (going to the gym) then. I still do, but I know it helps."

And he has seen the results firsthand.

First team

David Jones, Niceville

Nick Morrell, Choctaw

Kyle Ziegler, FWB

Will Jones, Niceville

Lenny Lessigne, FWB

Patrick Andrews, FWB

Akeem Gilbert, Walton

Matt Coffee, FWB

Michael Andrade, Navarre

JuWayne Tanner, SW

Billy Whatmough, Baker

Malcolm Freeman, FWB

Cameron Domangue, Baker

Akeem Spence, FWB

Matt Meeker, FWB

Honorable mention

Baker: Dustin Harlan, Tyler Moberly, Marcus Jones

Crestview: Matt Sanders, Clinton Lukert, Joe Smith, Cody Swenbeck

Choctawhatchee: Levi Henrie

Fort Walton Beach: Matt Ponder, Brandon Horn

Navarre: Josh Hostler, Andres Cook, Chris Weaver, Ronnie Wesson, Phillip Pybus

Niceville: Charles Phillips, Gabriel Wisdom, Lance Murray, Quinn Ritter

South Walton: Mason Gonzalez, Howard Young, Patrick Morris

Walton: Austin Wilson, William Brock, Deron Hogans, Beau Rushing

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Alex Woytkiw: Jupiter senior, Weightlifter of the Year

Six days after winning a state weightlifting championship, Alex Woytkiw wanted more than a medal to remember the accomplishment.

The Jupiter High senior got his first tattoo commemorating his state title in the 129-pound division at the FHSAA boys' weightlifting competition. The 5-by-7-inch black tattoo, which took 45 minutes to complete, is written in cursive on his left rib and says: "Strength is Power; 2008 state champion."

"People told me it was the worst place to get it," Woytkiw said. "It hurt a lot. The guy who did the tattoo told me, 'If you can win a state championship, you can get a tattoo.'"

Woytkiw lifted a total of 470 pounds to win the title in his first trip to the state finals. His effort earned him the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Weightlifter of the Year honor.

The state championship by Woytkiw was the third by a Palm Beach County weightlifter. Woytkiw joins Wellington's Mike Nethercote, who won the 199-pound Class 6A title in 1996, and Cardinal Newman's Jordan Datchko, who captured the Class 1A 183-pound title in 2001.

To reach the state tournament, Woytkiw first had to drop 21 pounds in a five-month period and gave up wrestling after being a two-time district champion in his junior year.

Woytkiw had to get the blessing of his mom to get the tattoo.

Adam, Woytkiw's twin brother who placed second in the 139-pound division, also got a tattoo. Adam's says: "Pride is Everything."

"She is really against tattoos, but she understood that if I were to win something like that after all of the weight I cut, I wouldn't ever want to forget that," Woytkiw said. "Stuff like that builds character for the future, and every time I look in the mirror, it reminds me of what I went through."

Woytkiw was a four-year varsity starter, a three-time all conference selection and won his first sectional title this year. His best lift this year was 480 pounds, nearly four times his weight. He will attend the University of Central Florida.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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North Marion's Williams was tops in county
BOYS WEIGHTLIFTER OF THE YEAR
By Richard Burton

SPARR - It turned out that North Marion's Ryan Williams may have been too good for his own good.

Williams had no equal locally in the sport of weightlifting and won the heavyweight class at this year's county meet by an amazing 110 pounds.

At state, Williams missed on three bench press attempts of 390 pounds and didn't place, but his dominance throughout the season was unmatched by anyone in Marion County.

Williams, who totaled an area-best 700 pounds, earned the Star-Banner's Lifter of the Year, although, the road there wasn't what he expected.

"Winning lifter of the year was a goal," Williams said. "(But not placing at state) ain't how I wanted to win it."

"It was hard to get up at meets (during the season). It was like I was just coasting. By the time that I got to state, it was too late."

Before getting to state, Williams had a lot of adversity that he had to overcome, starting back in football season.

He missed a good portion of the regular season with a bruised muscle around his heart, which not only took him off the field, but out of the weight room.

"The doctor said that I was close to having a heart attack," said Williams, who was unable to lift for two months due to the injury. "My mom knew something was wrong. She made all of my favorite foods and I didn't even eat.

"I just slept all day."

Williams battled back for North Marion's late-season stretch drive and earned a football scholarship to The Citadel.

"It's real nice," said Williams, who will play tailback in the Bulldogs' offense. "We get to play Florida and Clemson. I am really looking forward to those games."

Before this past weightlifting season, he had already made his mark on the county.

As a junior, Williams set the all-time area record with a 335-pound clean-and-jerk.

The three-time state qualifier placed third in Class 1A in the heavyweight class in 2007 and defeated Harmony's Nick Sardoni, this past year's heavyweight champ.

Sardoni upped his bench press to 500 pounds this season and made an impact on Williams at the state meet this past season.

"If I could do anything different (at this year's state meet), I wouldn't let him get in my head," Williams said. "He was 260-270 pounds and looked just like (former WCW pro wrestler Bill) Goldberg. He probably had five percent body fat."

Williams said he took an extra wide grip and missed each of his lifts at the lockout portion of the bench.

Despite not placing this spring, his legacy is intact in Sparr.

A pair of county titles, and four years of starting at the varsity level in weightlifting highlighted his prep career.

"It was nice," Williams said. "We accomplished a lot (in football and weightlifting). I enjoyed my time here."

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Prep boys weightlifter of the year: Palatka’s Nick Albert
By Andy Hall

It began at the 2002 weightlifting state meet in DeLand, where a sixth-grader watched his brother win a state championship for Palatka High School.

“That day, I decided I wanted to do the same,” he said.

When Nick Albert sets a goal, don’t bet against him. Don’t be fooled by looks, either.

“He doesn’t look strong at all. He’s not built like Jonathan Garcia or Terry Gilyard or other state champions I’ve coached,” said PHS coach Gordon Roberts, who worked with Garcia at Palatka and Gilyard at Crescent City. “But his inner strength is amazing and I think that’s because he had a goal from when his brother was a state champion and he’s worked toward it.

“The result is two state championships.”

Not only that, Albert made the second one look easy. He won his 119-pound weight class by a comfortable 35 pounds. His 460-pound total lift represented a 255-pound bench press and a personal-best 205 on the clean and jerk.

It is this achievement that sets him apart as Daily News’ Weightlifter of the Year.

“Of course, I’m excited about it,” said Albert when asked to reflect on his high school career. “I’ve achieved all the goals I set out to achieve.”

Told that his coach described him as goal-oriented, Albert agreed. Indeed, he finds that much of the appeal of the sport of weightlifting is that it is goal-oriented.

“You go to a meet and get a weight you’ve been trying to get for a couple of months. There’s no better feeling,” he said.

Albert had that experience twice in his final week with the Panthers -- at the state meet, where he cleaned a personal record en route to the title, and five days before at the Putnam County Meet, when he benched a personal-best 465.

Until then, he had been reluctant at meets to do little more than was necessary to win. It was a matter of gamesmanship -- hiding one’s best stuff from potential state rivals -- and not laziness.

“We were on the Internet all the time trying to find out what the guys from DeLand and Spruce Creek were doing,” Roberts said. “He decided to let it all hang out at the county meet because there wasn’t going to be enough time for word to get around.”

Palatka beat out Spruce Creek, DeLand and the rest of the field for the class 2A team championship at Daytona Beach in 2007, a meet that excited Albert even though he won his first individual title without his best performance.

With eight state titles, Palatka bows to few schools in weightlifting excellence but Spruce Creek, with more than 20 championships, is one of them.

“I never would have thought Palatka would have beaten Spruce Creek head-on,” Albert said. “Beating any of those Volusia schools -- people don’t know what that takes.

“Last year, I didn’t lift all that well, but I was part of a team that won state and everything that goes with it. This year, I put up a total that people will look at and say, ‘that was good.’”

It was the realization of a goal set in the sixth grade and the culmination of training that began seriously in the eighth grade. Albert trained alongside his brother a portion of that time. He’ll continue to train after high school, part of the time with coach Roberts at PHS and part of the time with a DeLand-based coach, Charles Paiva.

Amateur or Olympic-style weightlifting is the next step for Albert, who plans to attend St. Johns River Community College. He’s already participated in that style on a limited basis and understands the challenge ahead. He’ll have to become a master of the snatch -- picking the weight up and thrusting it over one’s head in a single motion -- along with the clean and jerk.

“My bench press was my best lift in high school. In Olympic-style lifting there is no bench press,” Albert said. “I’ll have to work on my leg strength and my technique.”

Garcia, who graduated a year ahead of Albert in 2007 and also owns two state titles, already is heavily involved in amateur weightlifting and has competed in Italy.

“I’d like to qualify for an international team in 5-10 years,” Albert said.

When he sets a goal -- particularly in weightlifting -- don’t bet against him.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Mulberry's Ford, Roach Are Polk's Best

When he reached high school at Mulberry four years ago, Dominique Ford wanted to play football.

His mom, Lillie, said no - noting that he weighed less than 120 pounds.

His search for another sport led him to weightlifting.

"The first time I saw him, I could tell he was blessed with natural strength," Mulberry coach Dave Roach said. "But I had no idea how hard a worker he is."

Ford worked his way right up the ranks and became a state champion.

Winner of the 129-pound class at the 2008 Class A State Championships in Daytona Beach, Ford is The Ledger's lifter of the year this season.

When he was a sophomore, Ford weighed 115 pounds and lifted 185 in the bench press. Last year, he improved to 215. This season, his best lift came in the state meet at Embry-Riddle College when he benched 250. He lifted 205 in the clean-and-jerk.

Ford led The Ledger's All-County weightlifting team. He and four of his teammates helped Mulberry to a fifth-place finish at state, the Panthers' best ever.

Roach, a former power lifter himself, is the coach of the year.

Ford plans to enroll at Polk Community College in the fall and major in personal training or sports management.

"I'm hoping I can get him to come back and help me coach the young weightlifters," Roach said.

Roach also coaches running backs and defensive backs under head coach Kenny Grantham.