The Apalachee High School weight lifting team continued its high rate of success as a program claiming another area title this past week.
AHS dominated the Area III meet at Rockdale County Saturday. It marks the fifth consecutive season the Iron Cats have won the event. The top three lifters in each weight class qualified for state which will be March 19 in Hawkinsville. Eleven AHS athletes will be competing at state.
AHS totaled 107 points, easily outdistancing second-place Newton High School which had 50. Eastside (33), Monroe Area (27), Clarke Central (23) and Heritage (15) rounded out the top sixth.
The Iron Cats swept the 140-and-under division with Rocksha Audies, Andwon Tyson and Mark Sanford taking the top three spots.
In the 140-150 division, Cody Boyle (first) and Jermaine Smith (third) qualified for state while Vontez Heard was fourth.
Clint Ashe was fifth in the 150-160 division while Alex Camp won first and Kendall Conovoer was third at 160-170.
FJ Smith won the 171-180 division with Jared Ervin finishing fourth. Johnny Thompson (second) and Tim Simonton (third) qualified for state from the 181-190 division while Josh Doman was sixth.
Chris Guthrie was fourth at 206-225 while Tyler Cash (fourth) and Nate Holten (fifth) competed at 226-245.
Corey Riley was third and qualified for state at 246-and-above.
“I was very pleased,” said Iron Cats coach Shane Davis. “When you lose the number of people we did from last year, you never know how it will go.”
Davis said AHS lost 40 team points from last season after graduation.
“It hard to make up that difference when you lose great athletes like we did,” the coach said. “We lost several who had been part of the program for a long time. They were used to the competitions. This group is making its own mark, however.”
Davis said Camp moved up in weight classes but still performed at a high school Saturday.
Winder-Barrow High School competed at the Area II meet at Peachtree Ridge last Friday finishing fifth overall among 15 schools.
Will Douthit placed second in his division to lead the Iron Doggs while Kendrick Davis was third in his division.
Tyree Tanner and Dillon Barnes also placed third in their respective divisions.
Each will advance to state March 19.
Also scoring points for the team was Hogan Anderson with a fourth place finish.
Robby Lotspeich, Johnny Hester, Chandon Sullivan, David Rohrer, Chris Tilghman, Aaron Jeswald, Jamonte Riden, Andre Scott, Quinton Long, Devin Nash, Cliff Hall, Markesio Anderson, Soloman Sims, Tyler Pineda, Taylor Pineda, Al Schotter, Mikeal Stevens, Josh Harvey, Will Wiedeman, Juan Lozano, Leo Galdamez and Tyler Junius all turned in solid performances, coach David Wagner said.
“Most of these lifters actually broke their maxes on Friday evening, which is a huge accomplishment in itself,” the WBHS coach said.
