YULEE - Keystone Heights High School's boys weightlifting team dominanted their district championships while, on Saturday, the Oakleaf High boys team pulled out one of the closest district titles in the school's history as area lifters get one more shot to get to the FHSAA state championships to be held April 11-12 in Lakeland.
"We didn't quite have as good a district meet as we had planned, but the team came together and put a lot of points on the board," said Keystone Heights coach Steve Reynolds, who won district 8-1A with impressive point totals of 104 points and 82 points, respectively, in Olympics and Traditional. "We will work on keeping everyone healthy for regions and peaking at state."

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Region schedules/venues/start times

Region 1-3A (Oakleaf) at Deland High School, Wednesday, April 2, 10 a.m.

Region 1-2A (MHS, FIHS, CHS, RHS, OPHS) at Suwannee High School, Saturday, April 5 10 a.m.

Region 2-1A (KHHS) at Keystone Heights, Friday, April 4 4 p.m.

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Reynolds, who has followed the very big footsteps of departed former coach Lantz Lowery, now at Palatka High, as he sees the history of his program under Lowery's leadership for two state titles, one of the keys of getting his athletes motivated to continue that legacy.
"The boys know what this program has achieved and I think that motivates them to continue the history," said Reynolds. "Coach Lowery was a great motivator, but also a tactical coach that got the most out of his boys at the right time. We had a lot of weight classes with two boys in the top five."
Keystone Heights, with a 82-41 score over Crescent City, got district titles to five athletes in Traditional; Elijah Mize at 119, Colton Hollingsworth at 129, Damien Dunlap at 154, Kyle Perkins at 199 and Brayden Wester at 238
In Olympics, the Indians beat Father Lopez, 104-63, with individual titles to Mize, Hollingsworth, Clark Barnes at 154, Perkins, Trase Wooden at 219, Wester and Jackson Herman at Unlimited.
Highlights included Mize winning the Top Lifter for Traditional with his win by 75 pounds over Indian teammate Dylan Cunningham, Dunlap leading a first and third finish (Jagger Lancaster) for the 154 division, Perkins and Zane Leger going 1-2 in 199 and Wester and Pete Bostic going 1-2 at 238.
In Olympics, Mize and Currington were just 25 pounds apart, Hollingsworth won with Aiden Nobles second (Nobles third in Traditional), Barnes with Brayden McCall second by just 10 pounds, Perkins and Leger again 1-2, Wooden and Logan Madden-Moore going 1-2 at 219, Wester and Bostic 1-2 at 238 and Herman having Andrew Snider in third at Unlimited.
For Oakleaf, in district 3-3A at Nease High School, the Knights stole a 74-72 win over Nease for the Olympics title, then won the Traditional with a little more breathing room, 67-58, again over Nease.
Oakleaf got district Traditional titles to Ray Williams at 119, Daniel Israel at 129, Gentle Clark at 139, Noah Shevchook at 154, Christian Rodriguez at 169 and Ethan Simons at 238
In Olympics, Williams, Israel, Clark, Shevchook, and Simons got their titles with Lucius Manley winning at 199.
Shevchook was named the Top Lifter in both Olympics and Traditional with his total of 630 in Traditional and 520 in Olympics. Shevchook bested the 154 field in Olympic Snatch with his opening lift of 220 the only lift he needed there with 185 the second best and needing just two lifts; 290 and 300, to win in Clean and Jerk with 230 the second best.
In Bench Press, Shevchook took all three lifts; 310, 320 and 330 to win with a 260 second best.
Highlights for Oakleaf included Williams winning his two disciplines by 80 pounds in Olympics and 125 pounds in his 119 weight division; Oakleaf going 1-2 in 169 with Rodriguez and Brenton Matlock taking the top two spots in Traditional with Matlock third in Olympic and Simons winning at 238 Olympics by 135 pounds, but just five pounds in Traditional over Creekside's Lawson DiBartola, 590-585.
In the Class 2A districts; District 4-2A and District 3-2A, where Middleburg, Clay, Ridgeview, Fleming Island and Orange Park compete, Yulee won the district 4-2A title 52-48 over Clay with Fleming Island third at 46 in Traditional with Yulee topping Fleming Island in the Olympics scoring 57-56 with Fernandina Beach third at 53 and Clay fourth at 42.
In District 3-2A, Suwannee High, the defending Class 1A champion, dominated both disciplines with a 95-55 score over Columbia in Traditional with Middleburg third at 47 and Ridgeview with five points, while Suwannee hit the 100-plus mark in Olympics with 106 points beating Middleburg's 58 with Ridgeview third with nine points.
At Baker County, with Suwannee nabbing five individual titles in Traditional and nine titles in Olympics, it was Middleburg's Charles Little at Unlimited and Sam Craven at 183 in Traditional, the lone area lifters to steal a title from the Bulldogs powerhouse.
Little beat Suwannee's Will Brown by just five pounds; 540-535, to win his title while Craven won his Traditional title by 50 pounds over Suwannee's Jayden Francis.
Top five finishers at Baker County in Traditional included Wyatt Moore (RHS) fifth 119; Jammes Harris (MHS), Tyler Alexander (MHS), 3rd/5th 139; Caiden Thigpen (MHS) Brock Araujo (MHS) 3rd/5th 154; Mason Peevy (MHS), Danny Raines (MHS) 4th/5th 169; Wain Sulph (MHS) 3rd 183; Riley Steele (MHS) 3rd 199; Brad Darnold (MHS) 5th 219; Mike Kraft (MHS) 238, and Trent Pavlus (MHS) 3rd UNL.
In Olympics, top five finishers at Baker County were Wyatt Moore (RHS), Evan Kittrel (RHS) 4th/5th 119; Harris (MHS), Mike Bowden (MHS) 2nd/3rd 129; Ashton Harp (MHS) 3rd 139; Thigpen (MHS) 5th 154; Mason Peevy (MHS), Danny Raines (MHS) 2nd/5th 169; Wain Sulph (MHS), Sam Craven (MHS) 2nd/4th 183; Riley Steele (MHS), Carson Stewart (MHS) 4th/5th 199; Brad Darnold (MHS), Darius Swilley (MHS) 4th/5th 219; Gabe Baker (MHS), Mike Kraft (MHS) 2nd/5th 238 and Charles Little (MHS), Trent Pavlus (MHS) 1st/3rd UNL.
At Yulee, Fleming Island got titles in Traditional fro Deh'mir Jackson at 219, Cohen Cioffi at 238 with Clay's Eli Iscoa winning at Unlimited.
In Olympics, Fleming Island got titles from Griffin Vollertsen at 199, Jackson at 219 and Cioffi at 238 with Iscoa second at Unlimited by 15 pounds to Yulee's Cayden Ricks.
Top five finishers in Traditional were Wyatt Hickox (CHS), Dom Vicary (CHS) 2nd/4th 119; Hayden Nalepa (CHS), Mason Donahue (FIHS) 3rd/4th 129; Zerek Migliore (CHS), Alex Sgro (CHS) 2nd/3rd 139; Austin Davis (FIHS), Peyton Spooner (FIHS) 3rd/5th 154; Maverick Schaubroeck (OPHS), Gabe Taylor (OPHS), Wilson Medina (CHS) 2nd/4th/5th 169; Brady Digman (FIHS), David Smith (FIHS) 3rd/4th 183; Phenex-Dean Skylar (CHS), Kade Williamson (CHS), Terrion Butler (OPHS), James Waters (OPHS) 2nd/3rd/4th/5th 199; Dominic Dyer (FIHS), Jeremiah Johnson (OPHS) 4th/5th 219; Kisaia Kisena (FIHS), Blake Warren (CHS) 3rd/5th 238 and Touni Saoud (CHS), Jeremiah Hamilton (OPHS) 3rd/5th UNL.
In Olympics, top five finishers included Wyatt Hickox (CHS), Dom Vicary (CHS) 2nd/5th 119; Hayden Nalepa (CHS) Mason Donahue (FIHS) 2nd/5th 129; Graham Carter (FIHS), Ryan Tillis (FIHS) 3rd/4th 139; Austin Davis (FIHS) 5th 154; Roni Nguyen (FIHS), Brady Rock (CHS) 3rd/4th 169; Brady Digman (FIHS), David Smith (FIHS) 2nd/3rd 183; Phonex-Dean Skylaer (CHS), Kade Williamson (CHS) 2nd/3rd 199; Hayden Wagle (CHS) 3rd 219; Isaia Kisen (FIHS) Blake Warren (CHS) 2nd/4th 238; Eli Iscoa (CHS), Touni Saoud (CHS), Adam Myers (FIHS) 2nd/3rd/5th UNL.

State titles

2014
Class 1A: Keystone Heights (tie with Baker County)

2021
Class 3A: Fleming Island
Class 2A: Ridgeview (tie with Pace, Charlotte)
Class 1A: Keystone Heights

2022
Class 1A: Keystone Heights

2023
Class 3A: Fleming Island