BAKER — Time will tell of the Oliver Nursery Gator Invitational weight lifting meet becomes an annual event. But if Wednesday’s inaugural event is a predictor of future successes the meet should be around for years to come.
Six teams swarmed the Baker School gym to compete in the meet.
The Choctawhatchee strong men came out the winners with 90 points. Niceville finished second with 65 points. The host Gators were third with 38 points, followed by Crestview (11 points), Rocky Bayou and Northview.
Oliver Nursery Gator Invitational weight lifting photos>>>
Baker weight lifting Coach Andy Valmus was pleased with the meet.
“I thought it was a great success,” he said. “All of the coaches helped out and the athletes had great attitudes. I think some personal bests were made for our team especially.
“And I heard a couple of other coaches talking about it (personal bests) for their team so that’s always a good sign. It was a great meet. I’m very pleased with our guys.”
Crestview Coach Andrew Black used the meet to see how the Bulldogs stack up against some of the better competition in the area.
“Weight lifting is a short season, but I’m proud we came out here and competed,” Black said. “It’s a great way to see how we measure up because Niceville and Choctaw are here and they do an outstanding job.
“I’m proud of our kids. At Crestview we share athletes and right now we are sharing a lot of our athletes with track. A lot of our kids are just getting done with wrestling.”
The meet served as a warm up of sorts for next week’s sub-district meets.
The Gators will host a Class 1A sub-district with Choctaw, Gulf Breeze and Rocky Bayou Christian at 3 p.m. Monday. The Bulldogs will be in the Class 2A sub-district at Fort Walton Beach on Wednesday.
Valmus hopes having hosted the Wednesday’s meet will prepare the Gators for the sub-district.
“We are in the same atmosphere and the same environment we will be in Monday,” he said. “The atmosphere is the big thing when you go to sectional or sub-sectional, any big meet. The whole mindset is important and I think that gave them an idea of the mindset they will have Monday.”
Below is where the lifters from Baker and Crestview placed in their respective weight class. Only lifters finishing in the top six in their classification are listed.
119 Class
3. Christian Sanguyo, Baker; 360
4. Logan Cadenhead, Baker; 320
129 Class
2. Stefan Sanguyo, Baker; 375
139 Class
2. Dillon Nixon, Baker; 415
5. Will Miller, Baker; 385
154 Class
4. Austin Mayo, Baker; 415
169 Class
4. Austin Martin, Baker; 460
5. Trace Richter, Crestview; 435
6. Tom Crowson, Baker; 415
183 Class
2. Tyler Oliver, Baker; 510
6. Cameron Merritt, Baker; 450
199 Class
6. Ralph Poythress, Baker; 470
219 Class
3. Joshua Thomas, Crestview; 565
4. Kyler Chatman, Crestview; 565
239 Class
5. Montae Barto, Baker; 575
6. Amp Seals, Crestview; 545
Heavyweight Class
4. Calvin Blankenship, Baker; 535
6. Austin Martel, Crestview; 485
Email News Bulletin Sports Editor Randy Dickson, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Weight lifting meet great success (PHOTOS, VIDEO)