Saturday marked another state weight lifting competition for Apalachee High School and another state championship was the result.
The Iron Cats took the Class AAAAA title at the state competition hosted by Rockdale County High School. It is the fifth championship in seven years for AHS. The other two years saw the Iron Cats finish as state runner-up.
Top placers for AHS included:
•Devonte Vinson, third place, 140-and-under
•Mark Sanford, first place, 141-150 weight class and pound-for-pound strongest competitor at meet
•Devon Heard, fifth place, 141-150 weight class
•Jermaine Smith, sixth place, 141-150 weight class
•Clint Ashe, second place, 151-160 weight class
•Paul Quassi, fourth place, 151-160 weight class
•F.J. Smith, first place, 161-170 weight class
•Cory Hunt, second place, 161-170, weight class
•Zay Henry, third place, 161-170 weight class
•Jordan Bridges, first place, 171-180 weight class
•Brendon Brown, second place, 171-180 weight class
•Austin Miller, third place, 171-180 weight class
•Shai Scott-Shorty, fourth place, 171-180 weight class
•Jerald Williams, third place, 181-190 weight class
•Eric Tanner, fourth place, 181-190 weight class
•Johnny Thompson, second place, 191-205 weight class
•Josh Holton, third place, 206-225 weight class
•Chris Guthrie, fourth place, 206-225 weight class
•Chris Morris, sixth place, 206-225 weight class
•Tyler Cash, first place, 226-245 weight class
•Marcus Riley, second place, 226-245 weight class
•Roosevelt Crum, third place, 226-245 weight class
•Sacrous Riley, first place, 246 and above weight class
•Joseph Goss, third place, 246 and above weight class
•David Green, fifth place, 246 and above weight class
“We are very proud of our athletes,” AHS coach Shane Davis. “They work very hard in the weight room and this has always been something we take great pride in excelling at. It is a focal point of our offseason program.”
The format was changed this year as there was no area competition. All teams which wanted to compete did so at state, Davis said.