Last year the Central boys weightlifting team earned a share of a district championship in one category and finished second in another.
This time around the Bears collected all the team titles, repeating in traditional (bench press and clean-and-jerk) and also taking first in Olympic (snatch and clean-and-jerk) at the District 2A-9 Meet on March 26 at Weeki Wachee High.
In traditional, Central scored 51 points ahead of Weeki Wachee and Nature Coast (both 41). Springstead was fourth with 26 and Hernando took sixth (22).
For the Bears, Dominyk Carter, a state qualifier a year ago, hoisted 290 pounds in the bench and had 240 in the clean for a 530 traditional total to take first place at 169 pounds, and he had a 145 in the snatch to give him a 385 to also finish first in Olympic.
Gideon Weber was Central’s other traditional district champion at 238 with a 300-265—565. Only district winners automatically qualified for regionals.
Central tallied 61 team points in Olympic, with Nature Coast placing a distant second at 44.Weeki Wachee was fourth (23), Springstead took fifth (19) and Hernando was seventh (nine).
Romy Abreu won the Olympic 119 crown with a 105-135—240 and Luke Redmile was the Olympic champ at 129 with a 135-185—320. Alvin Cortes placed first in Olympic at 154 (175-220—395).
Nature Coast had three traditional champions in Jayden Monroe at 119 (165-125—290), Brendan Hofmeister at 129 (230-165—395) and Justin Delery at 183 (325-270—595). Delery was also the Olympic champ (195-270—465) and Jason Turner gave the Sharks another first-place showing in Olympic at 238 (195-260—455).
Springstead’s Damyn Szatkowski dominated at 139 in traditional (310-240—550) and Olympic (180-240—420), and Mykel Theriault won for the Eagles at 199 in traditional (315-300—615) and Olympic (205-300—505).
Weeki Wachee’s Sean Campbell was first in traditional at 154 (295-215—510), as was Hernando’s Evan Richards in traditional at unlimited (385-200—585).
On March 24, Hernando High hosted the annual Kiwanis Invitational track and field meet. The Nature Coast boys took first place with 192 team points.
Kason O’Neill took first for the Sharks in the 800 meter (2:05.10), Noah Carpenter won the 1,600 (4:59.05), Trent Montgomery took the long jump (6.43 meters) and Joseph Lizor won the javelin (43.36). Nature Coast also won the 4×400 relay in 3:32.73.
Also on the boy side, Springstead’s Xylus Pastrana was first in the triple jump (12.66), and Ryan Mongold took first in the discus (47.78) and shot put (13.99). Weeki Wachee’s Tyler Boucher captured the 3,200 (10:38.77).
Springstead took first for the girls, compiling 184 team points. DeAijah Tullis placed first in three events, the 100 hurdles (17.26), high jump (1.57) and triple jump (10.25). Tija Holland had a first-place showing in the 100 meter (12.88), as did Viktoria Sayre in the 400 hurdles (1:15.27) and Kamauri Harris in the javelin (27.5). Plus the Eagles won the 4×800 relay (11:27.77), the 4×100 (50.44) and the 4×400 (4:45.50).
Lentajhae Smith in the 200 (26.42) and Alexa Dominquez in the long jump (4.7) both provided first places for the Hernando girls.
In baseball, Weeki Wachee and Springstead split two games last week, with the road team winning both times. First the Hornets came out on top 8-4 on March 25, with Jacob Barnum going 3 for 4 with a double, a run and an RBI, and Jayden Allen driving in three runs. Saul Melendez was 2 for 3 with a run and an RBI.
The Eagles (12-6) came back to beat the Hornets (10-9) 7-0 on Friday. Taryn Henrickson went 1 for 3 with two runs and two RBI for Springstead, and Dalton Williams pitched six shutout innings.
Hernando took two games from Central, 4-1 in eight innings on March 25 and 11-1 on Friday. Cody Whitelaw started the first game, going six innings giving up one run and striking out nine. He also had two hits, as he did again on Friday. Mason Morgan had an RBI in the first game and two hits in the second for the Leopards, who moved to 11-8 while the Bears fell to 10-8.
Meanwhile, Hernando’s softball team had back-to-back offensive explosions with a 21-1 shelling of Bishop McLaughlin Catholic on March 24 and 21-5 thumping of Academy at the Lakes on March 26. Sophomore Ammarae Easton finished 2 for 3 with a home run, two runs and four RBI in the first game, then 2 for 4 with a triple, two runs and another four RBI in the second.
Weeki Wachee beat Central 14-4 on Friday. Freshman Juliana Gray went 3 for 4 with a home run, three runs and three RBI for the Hornets (6-7).
