Weightlifting regionals: Frostproof's Wise claims double title, Lake Wales repeats
FROSTPROOF — Frostproof weightlifter Noah Wise was doing everything he needed to do to prepare for the FHSAA Class 1A-Region 4 meet. But he just wasn’t feeling right.
He actually entered the meet a little unsure that he had done enough to get the result that he wanted. Well, it turned out he did plenty.
The senior claimed first place in Traditional and Olympic categories in the unlimited division, thanks to lifting a total of 680 pounds in Traditional and 480 in Olympic on Thursday at Frostproof High School. This is the first time he has become champion in both categories at regionals to advance to state.
“It feels great," Wise said. “I spent a lot of time to get to where I am now, and really, it wasn’t just me that got me here. It was my team and my coaches that got me here. If they weren’t there, I would have never gotten here.”
When the doubt crept in, he sat down and pondered that the weights he ended up lifting in regionals were the same exact weights he lifted beforehand.
“I just reminded myself that I was completely capable of doing what I needed to do, and that the only thing blocking me was my mentality,” Wise said.
So he found a winning mindset and hit personal records in bench (385 pounds) and in clean-and-jerk (295).
The journey to weightlifting wasn’t a conventional one for Wise.
The son of Tony Wise, a former Frostproof defensive tackle and tight end who helped the Bulldogs win their last state football title in 1992, played football for Lake Wales for two years before weightlifting his junior year as a Highlander. He transferred to Frostproof as a senior.
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“I had high hopes for the program here. I looked at, I saw that coach (Richie) Marsh was coming back and he has a pretty good track record, and I really weighed my options. And I was closer to home, and really the options were pointed in the favor of this school that I would be better off coming here than I was staying there,” Wise said.
Before high school, he was actually a tennis player. But he would go on to choose the sport of weightlifting for a reason.
“It’s most definitely because I enjoy the sport. It’s fun to me, but I also like the competitiveness and the camaraderie that comes with it,” Wise said.
Wise will look to powerlift at the next level, too. But he wants to focus on engineering at UCF.
Other Class 1A Polk County state qualifiers were:
Olympic: McKeel’s Brian Rodriguez (139, 370 total), McKeel’s Thomas Kniss (154, 415 total) and Frostproof’s Eddie Gammage (169, 400 total).
Traditional: Fort Meade's Juan Estrada (119, 305 total), Rodriguez (139, 410 total), Ridgeview’s Gerson Guzman (154, 550) and Frostproof’s Landon Fuller (199, 550 total).
States are set for April 19-20 at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
Class 2A-Region 3: Lake Wales shows out
Lake Wales’ Issac Ramos and Zacchaeus Hart were champions, and the program also claimed its third regional championship in a row and its sixth in eight years Friday at Cypress Creek High School.
The program won the Olympic class on 34 points and the Traditional class with 28 points. It’s the second double championship in a row for Lake Wales.
“(It’s) a special group of young men. So proud of my guys and everything they’ve accomplished this season,” Lake Wales head coach Tashawn Williams said. “One more left to go for this special group."
The following Polk County athletes qualified for the state finals:
Olympic: Mulberry's Collis Rhodes (119, champion, 305 total), Auburndale’s Gavin Dibiasie (119, 245 total), Hart (129, champion, 350 total), Lake Wales’ Jeziel DeJesus (129, 305 total), Auburndale’s Shane Phillips (139, 350 total), Davenport’s Jordan Russell (154, 425 total), Lake Wales Joshua Canet (169, 510 total), Lake Wales' Christian Ramirez (169, 430 total), Davenport’s Ciprian Luna (183, 415 total), Davenport’s Ethan Janssen (199, champion, 540 total), Ramos (238, champion, 490 total).
Traditional: Rhodes (119, champion, 360 total), Hart (129, 420 total), Ramirez (169, 555 total), Canet (169, 555), Lake Wales Conner Hadden (183, 520 total), Auburndale’s Gage Bultman (183, 510 total), Mulberry’s Adam Owens (219, 570 total) and Ramos (238, 610 total).
Class 3A-Region 3: More Polk athletes qualify
And in Class 3A-Region 3 action, there were several state qualifiers from Polk.
Lakeland and Haines City both scored 10 points as a team in Traditional to lead local efforts.
The following Polk County athletes qualified for the state finals:
Olympic: Ridge Community’s Matthew Warden (119, 300 total), Winter Haven’s Peyton Bowers (119, 275 total), Haines City’s Julian Rosado (129, champion, 375 total), Ridge Community’s A-Jay Saint Louis (139, champion, 435 total), Lake Gibson’s Nathaniel Goldsmith (139, 395 total), George Jenkins’ William Draper (154, champion, 450 total), Lakeland’s Lucious Frederick (238, 505 total), Lakeland’s Caleb Stokes (unlimited, 495 total),
Traditional: Haines City’s Gael Guzman (119, champion, 390 total), Lake Gibson’s Tyrone Cooper (119, 330 total), Haines City’s Julian Rosado (139, 400 total), George Jenkins’ William Draper (154, 520 total), Lake Gibson’s Wade Tyer (199, 610 total), Frederick (238, champion, 645 total), Bartow’s Jordan Schley (238, 570 total) and Stokes (unlimited, 660 total).
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk County FHSAA regional weightlifting results: Lake Wales repeats
