BAKER — Seven Baker School boys weight lifting team members in the District 1-1A qualifying meet Tuesday earned a trip to the April 1 District 1-1A meet at Arnold High School.
Each weight class’s top three finishers qualified for a trip to the Arnold meet and more than half of the 13 lifters Baker had in the meet qualified for the next round.
The Gators scored 47 points, placing second to West Florida Tech and ahead of third-place Gulf Breeze in the team standings.
Two Baker lifters — Stefan Sanguyo in the 119-pound class and Andrew Allen in the 154-pound class — won their division.
Four Gators — David Hargraves, 119; Tyler Oliver, 154; D.J. Thomas, 183; and Taylor Brown, 219 — finished second in their division.
Taylor Carlisle qualified with a third-place finish in the 129-pound class.
“It felt good,” Allen said of his win with lifts totaling 450 pounds. “I’m glad I finally won a meet, and I’m glad I get to go to regional my first time.
“I could have done more in clean. I’m going to work hard and try to get better.”
Brown’s lifts totaling 530 pounds were just off his personal best, and while he was pleased with the results, he isn’t satisfied with it.
“I did pretty good,” he said. “I could do better. I just have to keep working and get a little stronger before the next meet.
“I was 10 pounds under my personal best. I scratched on my last bench at 280; I was close and I almost got it.”
The district qualifier was another success in a successful season for the Gators, Baker lifting coach Andy Valmus said.
“We had an undefeated season in dual meets,” he said. “We’ve been undefeated for three years. We haven’t lost a meet since coach (Matt) Brunson (athletic director and head football coach) got here (in January of 2011).
“We’ve got several guys that will be going to Panama City at Arnold. We had some guys that got their personal best total, which in a big meet like that is pretty impressive.”
Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker lifters shine at district qualifier