By Valendy Pierre
Apopka High is a school with many talented, strong students—physically and mentally. Some use their strengths in many different sports such as football, volleyball, baseball, lacrosse, etc. However, the sport that demands attention currently is weightlifting. For those who do not know about weightlifting or how it works, thank boys’ football and weightlifting coach, Coach Darlington for the brief explanation of the sport. At every meet you can have 20 people; two per weight class. “They have three attempts at a bench press and three attempts at a clean and jerk,” he explained. “They add their best bench and clean together and that would be their total. If you lift more than your opponent, you win points for your weight class.” The team with the most points wins the meet. I asked Coach to describe their season in one word and he said “satisfying.”
Coach Caughell and Coach Anderson led the lady wrestlers through each meet with blood, sweat, and tears, pushing them extra hard during practices so they were ready. Throughout the whole season, the girls worked their hardest to place and win their meets. When I asked his favorite thing about the season, Coach Caughall replied, “The girl season—just watching them improve all year, the team had such a great chemistry, every one of them progressed in their skill and their achievement in terms of placing…” We had a few girls go to Metros, Districts, Regionals, and lastly States. One being senior, Karis Buggs. Though weightlifting has been part of her life for quite some time, she has been lifting for Apopka since her sophomore year. Buggs described this season as motivating. She says her favorite thing about the season was progressing through it all which is a great aspect of a talented athlete. A highlight moment from Karis was being defeated in Metros and Districts, but retrieving in regionals and winning the Regionals Championship Title. She attended States in Panama City Beach alongside sophomore, Zaniah Ligon, and junior, Harmony Collen. Ligon placed top 20 in the state and Harmony Collen placed….
One thing I can say is that Darlington has done a great job with the boys, going undefeated during this season. Whether it’s in class or during practice, Darlington expects his boys to push themselves and go beyond what they think they can do. Coach has an amazing group of boys, especially senior Ed Montilus who he depicts as the leader of weightlifting. Ed has been part of weightlifting since freshman year and is said to have improved a lot since then. Montilus is a team player, saying his favorite thing about weightlifting is getting to hang with his football brothers and being on this team with them. An individual for Ed would be his recent bench press. As a team, Ed believes the best part of the season would be winning Districts and Metros which occurred before spring break. The boys have Regionals in the upcoming week so I’m sure they are working really hard preparing for the event.
Overall, both teams had an amazing season, each individual working their hardest, placing, and improving towards the end. The Blue and White congratulate the boys and girls who placed in metros and districts, as well as the girls who placed in Regionals and States. We would also like to wish the boys’ weightlifting team good luck in Regionals!