The Lady Braves and the Winter Park Wildcats gathered around as coach Glenn Listort gave them a few rules to follow, and then set them free to warm up. Although there were competitive vibes, both teams were supportive of one another.
Separated by different weight classes, the Lady Braves warmed up by lifting weights and telling the scorekeeper their beginning weight. Each weight lifter received three lifts of each lift type: bench press and clean and jerk.
First lifts in the bench press varied from 60 to over 100 pounds. Senior Jordan Crawford had a first lift of 90 as did Elizabeth Wills. The two continued to be neck-and-neck in lift two, but Crawford pulled ahead when Wills failed to complete her 105 pound lift and Crawford was successful. Crawford led her weight group for the bench press with 105.
Junior Nina Altensee was successful in bench pressing her max of 125. Sophomore Jae Crawford surpassed her max and benched 105, and Senior Billie Mealey benched 135.
Next was the clean and jerk. As the girls warmed up the Lady Braves expressed words of encouragement not just to their teammates but to their opponents too. Junior Molly Houston successfully clean and jerked 70 pounds as did sophomore Bailee Stiles. Junior Jessica Dolan and Jordan Crawford set personally records cleaning and jerking a 105 and 120, respectively.
Finishing the night out, Wills lifted 210 total, Jordan Crawford 225, Mealey 260, and junior Kelsi Smith broke a school record with 325.
In the end, the Lady Braves weightlifting team pulled out a win 52-34.
Come out and support your Lady Braves Wednesday Nov. 18 at 5 p.m. at Cypress Creek.