This Manatee County school just made history at Florida weightlifting meet
Braden River recently became the first Manatee County high school to win a girls weightlifting team state championship.
The Pirates won the Class 2A state title at Lakeland’s RP Funding Center, tallying 28 points in the Olympic team division to claim the championship. New Port Richey River Ridge were the runner-up with 24 points.
Payton Mangay-Ayam was the Pirates’ top lifter. She snatched 145 pounds and lifted 190 pounds in the clean-and-jerk for a 335-pound total.
Mangay-Ayam, who competed in the 129-pound weight class, had the best score in her weight class and was the second-best lifter in the Olympic category, which is based on clean-and-jerk and snatch lifts, at the meet.
Braden River girls win weightlifting championship
Mangay-Ayam was also the only undisputed Class 2A champion, meaning she won titles in the Olympic, traditional and team competitions.
Traditional lifting is based on the clean-and-jerk and bench press lifts.
Mangay-Ayam’s tallied 340 total pounds for first place in her weight class in the traditional division.
Here’s how other Braden River lifters performed at the state meet for head coach Jordan Borges:
- Angelina Nyguyen, seventh in 101-pound weight class, 205 total pounds (Olympic)
- Erika Garcia, ninth in 101-pound weight class, 200 total pounds (Olympic)
- Ellen Lehman, third in 129-pound weight class, 290 total pounds (Olympic)
- Taylor Ford, third in 139-pound weight class, 315 total pounds (Olympic)
- Emily Alora Parcels, fourth in 139-pound weight class, 315 total pounds (Olympic) and 10th with 310 total pounds (Traditional)
- Ava Bennett, 10th in 169-pound weight class, 285 total pounds (Olympic)
- Chloe Pogoda, second in 183-pound weight class, 345 total pounds (Olympic)
- Payton Hirst, seventh in 183-pound weight class, 300 total pounds (Olympic)
- Jeaniya Edwards, second 199-pound weight class, 350 total pounds (Olympic) and ninth with 320 total pounds (Traditional)
Bayshore’s Shamari Roundtree took fourth place in the Olympic unlimited weight class with 335 total pounds lifted and fifth place with 365 total pounds in the Traditional division.
Class 3A results
Manatee High School finished fourth, while Parrish Community High School snagged ninth in the Olympic team division of the 3A state meet.
Manatee’s Sherrickia King won the unlimited weight class title by lifting 415 pounds in the Olympic category. She also lifted 395 total pounds for fifth place in the Traditional section.
The Hurricanes also received an Olympic division fifth-place finish from Hannah Braendel in the 139-pound weight class after she lifted 295 total pounds.
Other 3A meet standouts included:
Parrish’s Zoey Morelli won the 110-pound Olympic weight class with 315 total pounds lifted and second place in the Traditional with 300 total pounds lifted; Madison Darnell took ninth in the 129-pound Olympic weight class with 285 pounds lifted; Lakewood Ranch’s Brooke Decillis placed sixth in the 129-pound weight class for the Traditional section with 310 total pounds lifted; Lakewood Ranch’s Alexis Rissler snagged second place in the 183-pound weight class for the Olympic division with 395 total pounds lifted and fourth place 355 pounds lifted; Palmetto’s Sophia Rosenthal lifted 325 total pounds for sixth in the Olympic division’s 199-pound weight class.
Class 1A results
In the 1A meet, Saint Stephen’s finished in eighth place in the Olympic division. The Falcons had top 10 finishes in the following categories and weight classes:
Dana Barber, fifth in Olympic 129-pound class, 260 total pounds lifted and ninth in Traditional with 270 total pounds; Emily Dowd, second in Olympic 154-pound class, 305 total pounds lifted and first in Traditional with 360 total pounds.
Bradenton Christian’s Grace Hullinger took sixth in the Olympic 169-pound class with 285 total pounds lifted.
