After dominating the Area III competition March 5, the Apalachee High School Iron Cats will look to add even more hardware to the trophy case.
AHS is set to challenge for another state weight lifting title Saturday in Hawkinsville. The Iron Cats have won numerous state titles in the sport as coach Shane Davis stresses the importance
of weight room carrying over to the football field.
“Going into this season we didn’t really know what to expect,” Davis said. “We lost some good athletes from last season’s team. However, our athletes this year are showing they can also be successful.”
Eleven AHS athletes will compete at state including Rockshau Audies, Andwon Tyson, Mark Sanford, Cody Boyle, Jermaine Smith, Alex Camp, Kendall Conovoer, FJ Smith, Johnny Thompson, Tim Simonton and Corey Riley.
The top three athletes in each weight class from area advance to state.
“We lost three kids from last year’s team to graduation who accounted for 30 of our 46 team points,” Davis said. “We returned three athletes who scored points for us at the state meet last year in Alex Camp, Cody Boyle and Rockshua Audies).”
Eleven of the 17 athletes who competed for AHS at area will compete at state. A year ago AHS had 17 athletes qualify for state.
“Our kids have had a great year in the weight room and we look forward to a good meet this Saturday,” Davis said.
Winder-Barrow High School will also be represented at the state weight lifting competition.
Will Douhit, Kendrick Davis, Tyree Tanner and Dillon Barnes will represent the Iron Doggs at state.
WBHS competed in Area II for coach David Wagner, who, like Davis, also pushed a strenuous weight program. Wagner said several of his athletes set personal best at their area competition, which was held at Peachtree Ridge.
“I am excited to have four athletes qualify in our first year of competition,” Wagner said.
The state competition begins at 9 a.m. The event is an all-classification meet with athletes from across the state competing.
