“When I was in ninth grade I set a goal that I wanted to be weightlifter of the year before I finished high school,” said Lewis, now a senior. “I was honestly thinking that it was a goal that was forgotten and I was just going to put it off to the side, but I am so excited I got the chance to fulfill it.”
In earning the Star-Banner's girls weightlifter of the year honor, Lewis earned conference and sectional championships along with a third-place finish in the 183-pound class at the state meet.
“I never thought I would do this well,” Lewis said. “What I liked about the sport was that you could be crazy and you could do whatever you wanted to and everything relied on you. It was you doing your best to make the team do better.
“So, it's not like you're relying on other people. You have no one to blame except yourself.”
Lewis, who averaged a 325-pound total, improved from a 12th-place finish at state as a junior and took her place among the best in her weight class by taking things in stride.
“I learned that it's just another weightlifting meet and to not freak out because it's ‘the big meet' and you're competing against everybody,” Lewis said. “Either way, if you win or if you lose, whatever you place, you still went against 27 of the best girls in the state. So you should be proud of whatever you do because you made it that far.”
Lewis, whose best bench press at practice was 200 pounds, credited Belleview coach Reddick Williams and her father, Brien Sesler, for being guiding lights in her weightlifting career.
Her biggest jump came from her sophomore to junior year and she worked this past season to get her clean-and-jerk up to a career-best 155 pounds.
“She has always been a hard worker,” Williams said. “She worked hard to learn the clean-and-jerk. … She really got better at it her senior year.”
Lewis, who holds the bench press, clean-and-jerk and overall total record for the 183-pound class for Belleview, started her career off with a 95-pound bench press as a freshman, but worked her way up.
She won the best senior lifter at a 13-team meet at New Port Richey River Ridge earlier this season and then won her weight class at the 22-team Keystone Heights Invite to set herself up for state.
This coupled with her and teammate Alexis Roberts, another senior lifter who went to the state meet for BHS, and Lewis was more than ready for the largest stage of the season.
“It was a good competitive team and they pushed each other,” Williams said. “One week (Lewis) would have a better total and the next it was Alexis.”
Alexis Roberts: Belleview, Sr., state qualifier at 169 pounds, 150 pounds in bench at sate
Nina Ramon: Belleview, Jr., state qualifier at 101 pounds, 7th place with 225-pound total
Tiffany Dickson: Belleview, Sr., state qualifier at 199 pounds, 270-pound title at state
Shalexis Price: North Marion, So., state qualifier at 199 pounds, 245-pound total at state
Mariana Mustain: Forest, So., state qualifier at 154 pounds, 285-pound total at state
Ashton Eimerbrink: Forest, Sr., state qualifier at 183 pounds, 175-pound bench at state
Ayla Johnson: Forest, Jr., state qualifier at 101 pounds
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment