'Consistent in my lifts': Polk County's Canet, Hart, Chastain, Temples earn county titles

Many times, weightlifters have a specific motivation as to why they do what they do. Other times these athletes join because they are just flat-out successful at the sport.

As the 2024 boys’ weightlifting season materialized, Polk’s best weightlifters prepared for the Polk Boys’ County Championship last Friday at Lake Wales High School, and a hand full became champions: Lake Wales’ Josh Canet (169), Auburndale’s Gavin Chastain (154), Haines City’s Gael Guzman (119), Lakeland’s Lucious Fredrick (238), and Lakeland’s Caleb Stokes (unlimited) were all Olympic and Traditional champions. Traditional champions were Lake Wales Zaccheaus Hart (129), Haines City’s Jayson Meritt (139), George Jenkins’ Brennan Mason (183), Lake Gibson’s Wade Tyer (199), and Mulberry’s Adam Owens (219). Olympic champions were Haines City’s Julian Rosado (129), Ridge Community’s A Jay Saint-Louis (139), Lakeland’s Lionel Rivera (183), Auburndale’s Anthony Temples (199) and Winter Haven’s Tyrone Footman (219).

Canet in Traditional lifted a total of 550, while in Olympic he lifted a total of 545. For the junior, it was about consistency.

“Being consistent in my lifts has always been a struggle, and I’m just starting to really grasp it, (and) start to really get more and more consistent in my numbers in my lifts,” Canet said.

Canet said he attributes his consistency to his failures in the past when it comes to not hitting on his lifts. The start of his consistent journey was assisted by his coaching staff, who he deems as his weightlifting parents.

While Canet has already accomplished second in the nation in the American Open Series, his ultimate goal is to use the knowledge gained to eventually lift for the junior world team for Team USA.

“Shout out to my teammates,” he said.

Hart is one of those teammates that helped Lake Wales. And while he hit his personal best of clean-and-jerk (205) in a dual vs. Winter Haven the week before county, he did hit a total lift of 415 as a Traditional champ in county.

“It feels like the hard work paid off, but we still got more work to do, so it’s rewarding, (and) also it’s putting in perspective what I got to continue to do to get to where I want to go,” Hart said. “…Just like Michael Jordan said, ‘it don’t mean a thing without a ring.’”

All County Meet The Ledger's 2023 All-County Boys Weightlifting Team

For Hart, it’s all about winning state. But he said he wants to inspire everyone around him to be great in weightlifting, academics and spiritually.

The junior was a part of the Lake Wales state championship football team in 2022. He now has full focus on being the best in weightlifting thanks to the love of the sport.

Chastain is another one who has full focus on the sport. He hit a total of 575 in Traditional and 475 in Olympics, which helped him win his fourth county championship in both categories.

“I feel good. It was nice as a senior to win my final county and it was just felt good to win again,” Chastain said.

It also felt good for Chastain to make his coach Gilbert Jones and family proud, he said.

And Auburndale’s Temples lifted a total of 420 in Olympics.

“In all reality I didn’t do as great as I wanted to do. I know that I need to do better next week, but I know with lifting throughout the years, I’ve gotten to new openers and new comforts, and so I’ve gotten higher weights on my comfort level to be able to win…,but I feel like I could have done a lot better,” Temples said.

This is how he felt when it came to his muscle mass. Temples originally was trying to use weightlifting to help him get stronger for football. But when he joined, he realized how much he loved winning in weightlifting, so he would go on to drop football and focus on weightlifting.

Lake Wales has been fully focused on weightlifting for years thanks to head coach Tashawn Williams. The Highlanders won its sixth county championship in Traditional thanks to a score of 40 points; Lake Wales also won back-to-back championships in Olympics thanks to a score of 40. Lakeland (23), George Jenkins (22), Ridge (19) and Haines City (19) were in in the top five in Traditional, while Lakeland (34), Ridge (29), Haines City (24) and Winter Haven (18) were in the top five in Olympics.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk County's Canet, Hart, Chastin, Temples earn county championships