ORANGE PARK - Middleburg and Ridgeview high school girls weightlifting had the top of the night finishes with both programs winning district titles; Traditional for the Lady Broncos, Olympics for the Lady Panthers as the cold, bitter weather put a plethora of district tournament action in play on Thursday, January 23.

In their district 6-1A championship, Keystone Heights High won both disciplines to advance to regions at Chiefland High on Saturday, February 1.

In district 2-3A, Oakleaf finished second to Mandarin in both disciplines and by just a handful of points.

For Clay High, three time defending state champion Emma Heck, now a senior, won her 139 weight division with a 65 pound gap in Olympics and a 50 pound gap in Traditional to look to defend her title from 129 and grab a final title at 139. Heck was also named top lifter in both disciplines with Fleming Island's Bradi Johnson second in both categories. Middleburg's Caylee Johnson was third in Traditional with Bronco teammate Emily Herren third in Olympics.

With four district champions; Ash Piniero at 101, Emily Herren at 129, Caylee Johnson at 154, Ava Clinkscale at Unlimited, in the Traditional scoring (Snatch and Bench Press), Middleburg was able to pull away from a strong Ridgeview challenge to win with 64 team points with the Panthers, led by champions two individual champions; Deja Hill at 110 and Jazmin Caraballo at 183, who finished with 52 points.

Fleming Island, with champions Bradi Johnson at 119 and Lily O'Steen at 199, finished third with 46 points.

In Olympics scoring (Snatch and Clean and Jerk), Ridgeview scored the district title with a battle with Fleming Island, 57-52, with the Panthers getting district champion title to Jada Hill at 101, Deja Hill at 110 and Jazmin Caraballo with Fleming Island chasing behind Johnson at 119 and O'Steen at 199.

Middleburg finished third with titles to Herren, Johnson and Clinkscale.

District champions automatically advance to the region championships with the next best five lifter totals to be determined when all district tournaments are completed.

Baker County's Savannah Nyman, at 169, was the lone non Clay County lifter to gain titles with wins in the 169 division in both Olympics and Traditional.

In Class 1A, Keystone Heights and St. Johns Country Day School competed Friday at Keystone Heights High School in district 6-1A with the Lady Indians winning a second consecutive set of titles in both Olympics and Traditional. Keystone Heights outscored Union County 72-39 in Traditional with St. Johns seventh while the Indians ran away from Baldwin in Traditional 93-56.

The Indians got wins in Olympics from Cadie Bowles at 110, Alyssa Sanford at 119, Kaylee Park at 119, Chloe Still at 139, Ashlyn Brown at 154, Morgan Wilson at 169, Paige Herrington at 183 and Ava Herman at Unlimited.

In Traditional, the Indians got district titles from Bowles, Park, Still, Lily Mitchell at 183 and Herman.

St.Johns Country Day School was without their lone state qualifier from last year, Gabi Oceguera, who was on a college visit, but had solid Traditional finishes from newcomers Jai Mei Kemp, eighth at 110/fifth in Olympics; Kate Staten, 10th at 119/sixth in Olympics; Elizabeth Jackson, seventh at 139/fourth at Olympics, and Kelsey Gregson at eighth in 154/fourth in Olympics.

In Class 3A, at Oakleaf's district 2-3A championships, the Knights finished second to Mandarin in both disciplines; 69-57 in Traditional and 64-60 in Olympics. The Knights got titles, in Olympics, to Marisa Simons at 110, De'Jean Mote at 169 and Zyaire Lovett-Scott at 199. In Traditional, Oakleaf scored titles with Simons at 110, Mote at 169 and Lovett-Scott at 199.

At 169, Mote was dominant with a 350-230 gap between teammate Abigail Gross in Traditional with Vanessa Verger was second at 183 by just five pounds. Mote also hammered in the Olympics scoring with a 95 pound gap on second place Madison Dias of Sandalwood. At 199, Gloria Lewis was just 25 ponds of Lovett-Scott to give the Knights good team point totals.

Area teams will have to wait until possibly Wednesday for other districts to complete their meets in order to establish regional qualifiers. District champions automatically qualify with the rest of the region field filled by totals established at districts.

Top five area finishers per weight class (No. 1 automatically to regions)

District 3-2A: RHS, MHS, OPHS, FIHS, CHS

Olympics (Snatch, Clean and Jerk)

Name, School, Total

101: 1. Jada Hill RHS 225, 3. Kyla Marshall FIHS 205, 4. Trinity Woodley MHS 200, 5. Ash Piniero MHS 195

110: 1. Deja Hill RHS 230, 2. Navea Garcia RHS 210, 3. Kayleana Henry OPHS 210, 4. Juliana White MHS 205, 5. Kinzy Alexander MHS 205

119: 1. Bradi Johnson FIHS 310, 2. Ania Haber RHS 255, 3. Abigail Mendez RHS 220, 4. Mallory Ficklin MHS 215, 5. Loreanis Maysonet FIHS 215

129: 1. Emily Herren MHS 295, 3. Haley Elkins, FIHS 255, 5. Reily Herren MHS 225

139: 1. Emma Heck CHS 375, 2. Kathryn Ward FIHS 310, 4. KK Hagean MHS 260, 5. Marina Barger FIHS 240

154: 1. Caylee Johnson MHS 345, 2. Madison Underwood MHS 305, 3. Matchadealle Calixte RHS 270, 4. Ciera Neal RHS 260

169: 2. Madison Roach RHS 285, 3. Jordin Vernon FIHS 270, 4. Izzy Williams FIHS 260, 5. Cassandra Garcia RHS 255

183: 1. Jazmin Caraballo RHS 310, 3. Kathryn Mowery OPHS 260, 4. Kacey Morris CHS 255, 5. Sophia Lewis FIHS 250

199: 1. Lily O'Steen FIHS 330, 2. Monica Brice RHS 275, 3. Peyton Coultis FIHS 270, 5. Kierra Clarida MHS 260

Unl: 1. Ava Clinkscale MHS 320, 2. Layla DeCristofaro FIHS 305, 3. Nevaeh Frazier CHS 295, 4. Alohilani Richburg OPHS 275, 5. Sahara Gordon FIHS 260

Traditional (Clean and Jerk/Bench Press)

101: 1. Ash Piniero MHS 240, 2. Trinity Woodley MHS 235, 3. Jada Hill RHS 230, 4. Kyla Marshall FIHS 205, 5. Emily Silvia RHS 185

110: 1. Deja Hill RHS 240, 2. Kinzy Alexander MHS 235, 3. Juliana White MHS 215, 4. Mesa Taylor RHS 215, Kayleana Henry OPHS 215

119: 1. Bradi Johnson FIHS 325, 2. Ania Haber RHS 275, 3. Kalynn Gaither MHS 250, 4. Keitlyn Kuilan RHS 245, 5. Alyssa Gordon FIHS 245

129: 1. Emily Herren MHS 315, 3. Haley Elkins FIHs 260, 5. Kaitlyn Howell CHS 250

139: 1. Emma Heck CHS 380, 2. Kathryn Ward FIHS 330, 3. KK Hagan MHS 295, 5. Brylee Thomas FIHS 255

154: 1. Caylee Johnson MHS 375, 2. Madison Underwood MHS 330, 3. Matchadaelle Calixte RHS 320, 4. Ciera Neal RHS 295

169: 2. Madison Roach RHS 300, 3. Brooke Hamilton CHS 290, 4. Cassandra Garcia RHS 285, 5. Isabell Pifer MHS 280

183: 1. Jazmin Caraballo RHS 340, 4. Zahaviah Sanders FIHS 280, 5. Kaithrynn Mowery OPHS 275

199: 1. Lily O'Steen FIHS 360, 2. Lilly Williams MHS 310, 3. Juliana Sosa FIHS 305, 4. Monica Brice RHS 300

Unl: 1. Ava Clinkscale MHS 400, 2. Alohilani Richburg OPHS 335, 3. Layla DeCristofaro FIHS 325, 4. Nevaeh Frazier CHS 325, 5. Emily Layman FIHS 285