Lake Wales doubles up, wins two team title at county meet

LAKE WALES — Lake Wales has emerged as the top girls weightlifting team in the county in recent years and doubled down on its domination on Saturday.

The Highlanders successfully defended their overall team title and also won the new team snatch category at the Polk County Girls Weightlifting Meet at Lake Wales High School.

Lake Wales won the overall title by a comfortable 14-point margin by finishing with 62 points, and Haines City was second with 47 points. The Highlanders' snatch team title was much closer — one point — as they finished with 60 points to Haines City's 59 points.

In the traditional division that combines bench and clean-and-jerk totals, Lake Wales crowned three individual champions with four runner-up finishes. The Highlanders also added four snatch champions.

"I was happy with how we performed today," Lake Wales coach Tashawn Williams said. "I think we left a few points on the table, definitely some things we can clean up and get better at, but we'll work on that next week."

Lexi Thomas led the way for Lake Wales as the dominant performer at the meet. She had the highest total lift of 415 pounds en route to winning the 199-pound weight class by 40 pounds over Auburndale's DeAsia Abrams. Thomas said she's happy with where she's at with three more meets left, district, region, state.

"I'm not excited that there's three more meet left because I'm a senior, but I'm keeping track of my weight," she said. "I'm doing really good with that, and I'm happy with where I'm at."

Danielle Garrison and Aisha Williams also won overall titles for Lake Wales. Garrison won her third consecutive county title by 25 pounds over teammate Kylie Granger. She finished with 315 pounds of total lift in 139-pound division. She won the 154-pound division the past two years.

Williams won the 129-pound division.

Aliza Khan (101), Kayden Arliss (154) and Lydian Denton (183) had runner-up finishes.

Khan, Garrison, Arliss and Thomas also won snatch county titles.

"Everything pretty much fell into place," Williams said. "I'm happy with how things ended up."

In finishing second, Haines City crowned one overall individual champion. Ada Herndon won at 101 pounds. Aiyana Ware-Rembert (110), Belinda Augustin (119) and Genarah Daceus (183) won snatch county titles.

Auburndale, which placed third overall and fourth in snatch, had three overall individual champions: Alaney Hancock (110), Katie Pruitt (119) and Hailey Burns (unlimited). Burns also won a snatch title.

Frostproof's Alisa Mendes had the third-highest overall total with 350 pounds in winning at 154.

George Jenkins senior Dallas Dickey, who finished second in the state last year, cruised to the the 183-pound class with an overall 325 pounds. (190-135). She took it easy on Saturday by making just one lift in the clean-and-jerk to easily clinch the title.

Her goals are 210 for bench and 160 for clean-and-jerk, which she feels will give her a shot at a state title.

"I do because I dropped a weight class," said Dickey, who lifted at 199 last year. "I've maintained the same strength."

Winter Haven's Alyvia Logan won at 169 pounds. She lifted early in the morning prior to the meet so she could participate in the regional cheerleading meet later in the day in Plant City.

Mendes, Dickey and Logan also won snatch titles.

Polk County Girls Weightlifting

At Lake Wales High School

Saturday's results

Overall

Team scores: 1. Lake Wales (LW) 62, 2. Haines City (HC) 47, 3. Auburndale (A) 37, 4. Winter Haven (WH) 26.

Individuals

Bench-CJ-Total

101: 1. Ada Herndon (HC) 75-65-140, 2. Aliza Khan (LW) 60-70-130, 3. Anissa Heerapersaud (RC) 55-50-105.

110: 1. Alaney Hancock (Aub) 90-110-200, 2. Aiyana Ware-Rembert (HC) 85-105-190, 3. Ja'Naria Hutchinson (B) 85-100-185.

119: 1. Katie Pruitt (Aub) 130-105-235; 2. Lili Rees (GJ) 90-100-190; 3. Nikka Dimmer (HC) 85-100-185.

129: 1. Aisha Williams (LW) 135-130-265, 2. Riley Matthews (WH) 120-130-250, 3. Skyla Jones (HC) 125-125-250.

139: 1. Danielle Garrison (LW) 145-170-315, 2. Kylie Granger (LW) 135-155-290, 3. Gabriella Fiorillo (WH) 150-125-275.

154: 1. Alisa Mendes (F) 195-165-350, 2. Kayden Arliss (LW) 160-165-335, 3. Tiana Bowers (HC) 135-135-270.

169: 1. Alyvia Logan (WH) 160-135-295, 2. Lydia Denton (LW) 125-140-265.

183: 1. Dallas Dickey (GJ) 190-135-325, 2. Kaylor Dudney (A) 150-145-295, 3. Janelle Quintana (HC) 145-130-275.

199: 1. Lexi Thomas (LW) 225-190-415, 2. DeAsia Abrams (Aub) 190-175-365, 3. Lyric Pittman (HC) 135-135-270.

Unlimited: 1. Hailey Burns (Aub) 175-160-335, 2. Lacey Collier (LR) 165-135-300, 3. Kamya Williams (WH) 150-140-290.

Snatch

Teams scores: 1. Lake Wales (LW) 60, 2. Haines City (HC) 59, 3. Winter Haven (WH) 30, 4. Auburndale (A) 27.

Individuals

101: 1. Aliza Khan (LW) 45, 2. Ada Herndon (HC) 45, 3. Anissa Heerapersaud (RC) 40.

110: 1. Aiyan Ware-Rembert (HC) 80, 2. Ja'Naria Hutchinson (B) 75, 3. Alaney Hancock (A) 70.

119: 1. Belinda Augustin (HC) 65, 2. Nikki Dimmer (HC) 65, 3. Autumn Taylor (LW) 60.

129: 1. Jordan Wright (WH) 95, 2. Skyla Jones (HC) 90, 3. Lily Taylor (LW) 85.

139: 1. Danielle Garrison (LW) 110, 2. Gabriella Fiorillo (WH) 95, 3. Kylie Granger (LW) 95.

154: 1. Kayden Arliss (LW) 115, 2. Alisa Mendes (F) 105, 3. Tiana Bowers (HC) 105.

169: 1. Alyvia Logan (WH) 110, 2. Lydia Denton (LW) 95, 3. Ariana Segarra (LW) 90.

183: 1. Genarah Daceus (HC) 105, 2. Janelle Quintana (HC) 100, 3. Kaylor Dudney (A) 100.

199: 1. Lexi Thomas (LW) 135, 2. Lyric Pittman (HC) 115, 3. DeAsia Abrams (A) 115.

Unlimited: 1. Hailey Burns (A) 115, 2. Kamya Williams (WH) 115, 3. Kaylla Dor (RC) 105.

Roy Fuoco can be reached at roy.fuoco@theledger.com or at 863-802-7526. Follow him on Twitter: @RoyFuoco.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lake Wales wins two team title at girls weightlifting county meet