Boys weightlifting | Manatee's Hustle and Flow lead five Hurricanes into state championship
BRADENTON -- Rich Lansky spent a few moments trying to settle on a nickname for his two senior leaders, Manatee's two region champions with a chance to medal at the Class 2A meet Saturday.
"Crank" was already Stanley Albritton's alias, but he didn't have one for Jack Walter, who Lansky describes as his "cerebral" lifter.
First he tries out yin and yang. They complement each other well and serve as an effective tandem to lead the Hurricanes to the Kissimmee Civic Center. He quickly settles on an addendum.
"Hustle and Flow," Lansky said. "Stanley's Charlie Hustle and Jack just flows."
A year removed from competing against each other in the 209-pound weight class and both falling short of a trip to Kissimmee for the state championship, Albritton and Walter were the only two Canes who automatically qualified for the 2A state meet by winning their respective weight classes at the Class 2A-Region 7 meet in Punta Gorda last month.
Once friendly rivals, the workout partners are leading five Manatee lifters to the state meet, which begins at 10 a.m. Walter competes at 219 pounds, where he's the Hurricanes' highest-seeded lifter at No. 8. Albritton has dropped two weight classes to 183 and is the 20th seed. The Canes' other three qualifiers are Nick Marquette (129 pounds), Jernard Porter (154) and Seth Walter (239), Jack's younger brother.
Lakewood Ranch and Braden River are each sending one lifter to the state meet -- both of whom were region champions. Mustang senior Gabe Overmyer (unlimited) is seeded No. 7, the highest-seeded Manatee County lifter in Kissimmee. Pirate senior Anzonni Hause-Reyes (169) rounds out the local contingent.
No area lifters qualified for the Class 1A meet, which was held Friday at the Kissimmee Civic Center. Cardinal Mooney's Dillon O'Neill finished second in the 239-pound weight class.
The two Mustang region champions are as unlikely a pair during competition as they are during workouts. Walter was a junior varsity lifter last year, buried on the depth chart by Albritton.
"When Stanley was fat," Walter joked, "he beat me out."
Albritton, who was a reserve defensive tackle for the football team, began slimming down during the fall. On the Canes' roster, he was listed at 177 pounds. Manatee
started using him as a fullback in its jumbo package and by the start of weightlifting season he was one of the lighter lifters in the 199-pound weight class.
Now he's on the lighter side of the 183-pound classification and the Hurricanes hope he has an outside chance at a top-six finish and a medal. Albritton personal-best 560 pounds -- lifters combine their max in the bench press, and clean and jerk -- came at the region meet. The total is 35 pounds behind the two competitors tied for sixth at 595.
"I was kind of more of the underdog in all of the classes so far this year because I'm always the lightest," Albritton said. "I want to hit all my lifts and then my last attempt I want to shoot for the stars, because I know what I'm capable of doing and just I need to focus."
The year Albritton spent competing in the same weight class as Walter helped his development. It accelerated Walter's.
Even though Walter had a handful of inches on Albritton, Walter was perpetually trying to catch his teammate from behind. Walter would gain ground on Albritton during practices. Even during the first days of practice this season, Walter said, Albritton thought he would wind up lifting more than Walter.
Walter totaled 630 pounds at Charlotte High School for the region meet and sits only 10 pounds behind the No. 6 seed. He'll go into his lifts stoic while Albritton will jump and yell for his. If they play this weekend right, they'll each take a little from their fellow senior and finish their careers with a medal.
Said Albritton: "We just kind of vibe off of each other."
This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Boys weightlifting | Manatee's Hustle and Flow lead five Hurricanes into state championship ."