'We have a standard of excellence': Lake Wales advances 8 weightlifters to regionals

The one sentiment that Lake Wales weightlifting coach Tashawn Williams tries to get across to all his athletes is that lifting can solve a lot of problems. A little bit of ambition and dedication can go a long way in achieving some of the individual goals.

And oftentimes, those individual goals for every Lake Wales weightlifter combine into accomplishing a team goal.

That played out again Wednesday, as the team qualified eight athletes for regionals after taking a team title at the Class 2A, District 11 Weightlifting Tournament Wednesday at Lake Wales. The Highlanders racked up their eighth Traditional championship in a row as a team, while also grabbing the Olympic team title as well.

Those from Polk County who grabbed a spot at regionals are:

• Mulberry’s Collis Rhodes (weight class: 119, Total lift: 345, Category: Traditional and 310, Olympic)
• Lake Wales’ Zacchaeus Hart (129, 400, Traditional and 340, Olympic)
• Auburndale’s Shane Phillips (139, 355, Olympic)
• Lake Wales' Christian Ramirez (169, 545, Traditional)
• Lake Wales' Joshua Canet (169, 505, Olympic)
• Lake Wales’ Conner Hadden (183, 510, Traditional)
• Mulberry’s Juan Perez (199, 430, Traditional)
• Lake Wales’ Kyle Watson (199, 370, Olympic)
• Mulberry’s Adam Owens (219, 550, Traditional)
• Lake Wales’ Connor Davis (219, 380, Olympic)
• Lake Wales’ Issac Ramos (238, 550, Traditional)
• Lake Wales' Issac Ramos (238, 490, Olympic)
• Mulberry’s Jermaine Mills (Unlimited, 560, Traditional) and
• Lake Wales' Sylvens Blanchard (Unlimited, 425, Olympic).

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“It feels great. We have a standard of excellence that we try to achieve every season,” Williams said. “This is one of those seasons where I thought it was going to be a growing year. To tell you that I’m surprised, I’m not. Just for the simple fact that these young men have worked extremely hard. … I’ve just had a very hard-working group. From where they started at to where they are at now is like night and day, so it’s been special just watching their journey, from where they started to turning into the championship group that they are now. It’s been a great ride, and I’m just happy about this group and their development.”

But this development has been more than just weightlifting. Williams prides himself in teaching student-athletes on how to become great young men. To do that, he preaches family and, once people are well known to each other, then comes the teaching in the different scenarios of life.

It goes beyond weightlifting for Williams. But once the true motivation is known, limitless results are often the endgame. A handful of Lake Wales performers hit a personal best: Ramirez with a 300-pound bench press, Watson with a 215-pound clean-and-jerk and Davis with a 235-pound clean-and-jerk.

In the Traditional team competition, Mulberry was second with 42 points, while Auburndale was fourth with 36 and Lake Region was sixth with four. In Olympic team, Auburndale placed second with 46, while Mulberry was fifth with eight and Lake Region was sixth with one.

The Region 3 Tournament will be 10 a.m. April 4 at Cypress Creek High School.

“We just got to continue to lift at the level we lifted today,” Williams said.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: 'We have a standard of excellence': Lake Wales advances 8 weightlifters to regionals