Topic: News: Florida High School State Weightlifting Championships

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Boys athletes of the week:
Hussain Butt of New Smyrna Beach, Michael Stephenson of Spruce Creek

Hussain Butt (near right) of New Smyrna Beach and Michael Stephenson of Port Orange Spruce Creek compete in two of the smaller weight classes in boys high school weightlifting.

There was nothing small, though, about their achievement last week at the state meet at New Port Richey River Ridge High.

Both earned individual state championships and are the Sentinel's boys athletes of the week.

Competing in the 129-pound class, Butt lifted 250 pounds on the bench press and 240 pounds on the clean-and-jerk for a 490-pound total. That was 20 more pounds than runner-up Sean Rochefort of Loxahatchee Seminole Ridge and a big improvement over last year, when Butt placed eighth at state with a 410 total (215-pound bench, 195-pound clean-and-jerk).

Stephenson battled Mario Stewart of host River Ridge for the 139-pound title. Both finished with 515 totals, so the tiebreaker of lower body weight was used. Stephenson weighed in at 138 pounds, compared to 138.7 for Stewart.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Stewart takes 2nd at state
By LARRY BUGG

NEW PORT RICHEY - Mario Stewart wanted to make his mark.

Friday, the River Ridge senior did just that.

Stewart took second place in the 139-pound weight class at the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 2A boys state weightlifting finals, hosted by River Ridge.

Stewart had 515 pounds, the same as the winner, Michael Stephenson of Port Orange Spruce Creek High School, but Stewart weighed a mere seven-tenths of a pound more than Stephenson.

Stewart celebrated when he set a school record for clean and jerk in his weight class with a 240-pound lift. He jumped into Coach Mike Marlin's arms when he found the lift was clean.

"Second place feels good," Stewart said. "I knew I was definitely going to get top three. I wanted to win."

Stewart said he has had problems with his knuckles.

"He Marlin told me just go out and do your best lifts," Stewart said of his coach. "What happens, happens. We knew what we were going to be able to do."

He had a personal best of 275 pounds on the bench press. It was the first time he had tried that weight.

"We knew he would be close," said Marlin. "We knew he was going to be good for somewhere between 515 to 530.

"He had a good meet. When you get five out of six lifts, you have had a good lift. He has done a great job. He finished ninth last year. He was 129 and stepped up to 139 and almost won it.

"He is the second to tie and lose on body weight. Andrew Hutchison won the 169 class in 2004."

HUDSON BOYS TAKE THIRD AT STATE: The Hudson boys weightlifting team had four people medal Saturday at the 1A meet.

Hudson finished with 16 points, taking third place in the team total. Baker County won with 34.

"It's huge," said Hudson coach Tim White. "It's something we work hard for. We start out every year trying to win this."

Senior Joseph Cimino was the star, winning the 129-pound class with a 460-pound total. He had a 250 bench press and a school-record 210 in the clean and jerk.

In the same class, John Eaton was fourth with 430.

Justin Busiere (169) took sixth with 585 and Devon Palombo (219) was second with 660.

OTHER INDIVIDUAL RESULTS: River Ridge's Stavros Arianas (199) had a 580 total. He had a 330 bench and a 250 clean and jerk.

In the 2A meet Friday, Mitchell High's Ryan Gallagher (199) had a 575 total with a 335 bench and a 240 clean and jerk.

River Ridge's Anthony McKinney (183) had a 540-pound total. He had a 285 bench press and a 255 clean and jerk.

In 1A, Pasco High's Trevor Lane (238) had a 335 bench press and a 250 clean and jerk for a 585 total.

Pasco High's Yoel Lorenzo had a 320 bench and a 250 clean and jerk for 570.

Zephyrhills High's Donterrell Parker (169) had a 295 bench press and a 225 clean and jerk for a 520 total.

Zephyrhills High's Chad Reubens (139) took third place with a 485-pound total. He had a 270 bench press and a 215 clean and jerk.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Creek's 'little guy' comes up big
By BUDDY SHACKLETTE

PORT ORANGE -- When he came to the school as a freshman Mike Stephenson knew all about Spruce Creek weightlifting.

Older brothers Luke, Matt and Tyler were all members of past Hawks state championship teams so the baby of four brothers was well aware of what was expected.

Stephenson was unsure what sport he wanted to compete in, but it wasn't long before he settled on weightlifting and stayed there.

"They kind of left it open to me, but they said you would love this sport. They definitely helped get me started into it," Stephenson said of his older siblings. "I really didn't know what sport I was going to do. I liked it and said, 'This one is good enough for me.' "

Four years later, Stephenson leaves the Spruce Creek program having accomplished two things his older brothers never did.

Last weekend he became a state champion in the 139-pound weight class and now the senior is The News-Journal Male Weightlifter of the Year.

"They just got in it a little too late," said Stephenson, whose brothers advised him to start the sport early. "I'm the little guy."

Luke was a member of the 1996 state title team, Matt lifted at state for the 1998 state champions and Tyler was on the 2000 title team. Mike got his team title last year as a state runner-up, but he one-upped his siblings this year as his family's first state champion.

"He had a family history. His brothers all came through. He's the last of the crew. He's the first one to win state," Creek coach Mike Randow said.

"One of his brothers finished third. I think there was a lot of drive and motivation and push by his family. Mike kind of came out of the woodwork his sophomore year when he finished fourth or fifth in the 119 (class). He just had determination. He came one lift away from being a two-time state champion."

It was his junior year that laid the groundwork for this year's success. Stephenson went to state as the top-rated lifter at 129, but he was one lift and five pounds away from winning the title and settled for state runner-up.

"When you're seeded at the top you just think that you're going to walk in there and get it," Stephenson said. "I'd rather not be seeded first because then it gives you something to work for."

This year the 18-year old 4.2 GPA student won conference and sectional titles and was seeded second heading to state.

He got all three of his lifts in the bench press -- 250, 260 and 270 -- and his first lift of 245 in the clean-and-jerk put the state title away.

With the accomplishment, Stephenson became Creek's first individual state champion in three years and the Hawks' 80th individual champion in program history.

"He's highly motivated and nothing deterred him. We had no doubt this year," Randow said. "The confidence was there the whole time."

LIFTERS OF THE YEAR

2009: Mike Stephenson, Spruce Creek

2008: Brandon Partin, DeLand

2007: Shane Brophy, DeLand

2006: Andrew Trowbridge, Warner Christian

2005: Matt Monk, DeLand

2004: Allen Gibson, DeLand

2003: Nick Metakes, Spruce Creek

2002: Dwight Simmons, Spruce Creek

2001: Ryan Foley, Spruce Creek

2000: Jason Trost, Spruce Creek

1999: Robbie Reese, Taylor

1998: Kairon Hill, Taylor

1997: Mark Seiferth, Spruce Creek

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Heritage's Gandia comes through with best performance at state champs
By Gary Curreri

Nick Gandia couldn't have asked for a better finish to his high school career.

The American Heritage-Plantation senior finished eighth in the 129-pound division at the FHSAA Class 1A boys' state weightlifting championship at River Ridge High School in New Port Richey on April 25.

Even though Gandia was two spots out of earning a medal, the four-time state qualifier did his best - literally.

"It felt great," said Gandia, who also went to state in his seventh, eighth and ninth grade years. "I tied for the highest bench so that was real good, but the clean and jerk got me. Going to states was my main goal, so I was really excited."

Gandia, who bench pressed 255 pounds and clean and jerked 160 pounds for a career-best 415-pound total, was five pounds short of earning a medal at 420 pounds.

"I worked really hard, and I did pretty good for myself," Gandia said. "I tried for 170-pounds on my last lift, and had I gotten it, I would have placed fifth, and I couldn't get under it enough."

Another American Heritage lifter, Justin Goldberg, failed to get a lift at the bench press at 365-pounds and finished 18th in the 219-pound division. His lift would have tied the same lift by Braden River's Tevin Bryant, who won the competition

"I think the atmosphere, the big crowd and the lights affected him," said Patriots' coach Byron Walker. "It was his first time at states, but it was a good experience."

"I was overwhelmed," said Goldberg, a junior. "It was a good experience and I learned a lot. This was my first time doing competitive weightlifting and I know I have the strength to compete. I just have to work on technique."

Three Pine Crest athletes also competed. Tommy Wohlwender (199-pound division) had the best finish at 11th with a total lift of 590 pounds. Both Chase Helschien (169-pound division) and Alex Lewitt (183-pound division) placed 15th.

Baker County (Glen St. Mary) won the team competition with 34 points. Neither Broward team placed or scored points at the meet.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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A struggle to survive and the will to thrive
By Chris Anderson

He was born the size of a cell phone, so small he fit inside the palm of his mother's hand.

Donald Hawkins entered this world at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in 1991 weighing only 1 pound, 2 ounces.

He was delivered three months premature and spent the first 90 days of his life inside the neonatal intensive care unit.

It didn't get much easier once he came home either.

He needed a heart monitor and oxygen tube for six months until he was strong enough to breath on his own.

He was always sick too. There were infections, battles with pneumonia, long nights of his mother soothing him, of patting his back and loosening his lungs.

Of telling him everything would be OK.

That he was even alive was surprising. Sandra Hawkins, his mother, said doctors could not find a heartbeat prior to birth and recommended a termination of pregnancy.

She refused to sign the papers.

"They said I wasn't going to live or I was going to be handicapped,'' Donald Hawkins said.

For the first two years, his mother had to keep buying him clothes from the baby department, but over time he slowly began growing.

Once he reached 10 he was playing football for the Ringling Redskins and he developed a love for doing calisthenics.

He also loved watching his father, Donald Sr., lift weights.

"I always wanted to be like my dad,'' he said. "He used to bench 400 pounds. I was like, 'I wish I could do that one day.' ''

Well, the boy who used to get picked on for being so small competed on the Booker High weightlifting team this year.

But that wasn't where the story ended.

"He always talked about how he wanted to make it to state,'' his mother said. "He was going to train hard. He said, 'This is my senior year and if I don't do it now I'll never have the chance again.' ''

He trained like a madman. He ate nothing but chicken breast and grouper. He made it. He qualified. And just how could you tell?

His mother was the person at the state meet wearing the purple and gold T-shirt with "Hawkins" on the back and the purple and gold Nikes.

"I'm the loudest mom,'' she said. "Everyone knows that's my son.''

But that wasn't where the story ended either.

In the state meet he benched 350 pounds, which was the most he had ever benched in his life.

His clean-and-jerk was 280, meaning the kid who weighed 1 pound at birth lifted a total of 630 pounds as a 17-year-old high school senior.

In Class 2A, Donald Hawkins won third place in the 183-pound division.

It was a shock to everyone.

The medal dangled around his neck for hours.

"I was like, 'Ah, man,' '' he said. "It felt great.''

Meanwhile, the loudest mother at the meet, his mother, was reduced to tears.

"You just can't believe it because he came so far,'' she said. "It was very touching, very special.

"This would rank with the day I brought him home after three months.

"From that tiny little preemie baby to so big and so strong it's like, 'Wow.' ''

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Hussain Butt captures All-Central Florida boys weightlifting honor
By Zach McCann

Hussain Butt, the super-strong, super-lean weightlifter from New Smyrna Beach, wasn't always that way.

He used to be a skinny basketball player, no stronger than the player standing next to him.

"I don't think I'm naturally strong, not at all," said Butt, a junior. "But once I started getting strong, I kept getting stronger and stronger. I never stopped."

He didn't stop until he reached the top. Butt totaled 490 pounds at the Class 2A state meet, outdoing the second-best lifter by 20 pounds to win the 129-pound weight class. He bench-pressed 250 pounds and clean-and-jerked 240 in the competition in New Port Richey.

And he's not stopping now. Butt tried to take three weeks off after the state meet to let his body relax, but he was back in the weight room within a week. He couldn't stay away.

"I like working hard, and at practice, that's all it is," said Butt, the Sentinel's 2009 Central Florida boys weightlifter of the year. "It's a challenge, especially at competition when everyone is watching you. I love the attention."

In Butt's freshman year, he decided to try weightlifting at the end of basketball season as something to do. He had fun and enjoyed the hard work, but his season ended with a last-place finish at the Volusia County meet.

He wasn't discouraged, though.

A couple of weeks later, his coach, two-time Olympian Tim McRae, picked up Butt and a few other athletes in the early morning and drove them to the state weightlifting meet to watch the best high school lifters.

"Coach had this speech with me, and he told me that if I was committed, I'll be able to make it to states one day," Butt said.

His coach was right. After all, McRae competed in the 1992 and '96 Olympics for the United States, earning top-15 honors both years.

"It's equivalent to the Super Bowl, as far as weightlifting goes," McRae said of the state meet. "These kids can get some experience just by going."

His athletes also like to gain experience by watching McRae.

"They always want to see me lift," McRae said. "They like to get on the Internet and pull up old videos of when I used to lift and all that."

"But I don't want them to do it this way because I'm an Olympian. I want them to do it this way because it's how I was taught by my coach. This is what helped me reach my goals. And I try to teach them the same way."

Butt has bought into what McRae says. As a sophomore, Butt placed eighth at the 2008 state meet.

Going forward, Butt's goal is to clean-and-jerk 250 pounds, and he has lofty expectations for him and his teammates, who tied for fourth at state this year.

"I can see us winning the state title next year, for sure," Butt said.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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FWB's Freeman tabbed Weightlifter of the Year
By TRAVIS DOWNEY

When Fort Walton Beach weightlifting coach Daniel Griffin says that Malcolm Freeman has been driven in his pursuit of a state title "from day one," it's more than just coach speak. It's a testament to the Viking senior's dedication.

And Griffin has the make-shift plaque to prove it.

Inside Griffin's office positioned directly behind his desk is mounted a picture frame, inside it a plain white napkin with the words "I.O.U. a weightlifting state championship." It's signed; Malcolm Freeman.

"That's been his main focus," Griffin said. "He'd been to state twice as a sophomore and a junior ... he's had that drive and dedication that he'd walk away with (a state title) this year."

After combining to lift 660 pounds at the FHSAA Boys Weightlifting Finals in New Port Richey in late April, Freeman followed through on his promise, delivering Griffin a 199-pound individual state title as well as helping the Vikings to the program's first-ever team state crown in Class 2A.

For his record-breaking season, Freeman has been named the All-Sports Association/Daily News Boys Weightlifter of the Year, edging out teammates and fellow state champions Patrick Andrews and Akeem Spence to do so.

"After football, we didn't do as good as we wanted to," Freeman said. "I wanted to leave Fort Walton Beach with a state championship. I knew that I could do it by myself in weightlifting, it's more of an individual sport, so I knew if I put my mind to it, I could get it done.

"I knew it was mine for the taking."

Seemingly as soon as the curtain had dropped on the Vikings' football season, if not sooner, Freeman's mind and body turned towards New Port Richey. Early morning lifting sessions gave way to afternoon lifts that often times served as a warm-up for evening sessions as Freeman looked to put to ease his own concern over a slight tear in his pectoral muscle he had suffered the previous year.

"As soon as my shoulder got better, my bench shot up 60 pounds," Freeman said.

Soon, Freeman had eclipsed the school-record mark of former Viking and University of Alabama running back Glenn Coffee, a feat that instantly gave the Viking senior street cred with those who were not as familiar with the sport.

"Most people don't really get weight lifting, but when I tell them that I beat Glenn Coffee's records, they say, ‘You're good, I understand,'" Freeman said. "I beat an All-SEC running back's records ... not just beat them, I killed them."

Coffee's bench (385 pounds) topped Coffee's by 15 pounds while his clean-and-jerk total of 325 was 10 pounds more than that of the current NFL rookie.

From there, Freeman and the Vikings marched to the state finals. After not receiving credit for a strong lift on the bench press, an undeterred Freeman responded with a 310 pound effort on the clean-and-jerk to secure his state crown.

"He was minus 35 pounds from where he should have been," Griffin recounted. "He had to gut it up and have a good clean day to win and he did it, which I though was pretty impressive.

"He could have lost (his focus) but he didn't."

Instead, he kept a promise.