Prep weightlifting | Bayshore comes up empty-handed at girls state meet
No medals are coming back to Manatee County from the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 1A girls weightlifting state meet. Bayshore's four entrants in Friday's meet, held at the Kissimmee Civic Center in Kissimmee, didn't generate a top-six finish.
The best chance was Jessica Marcelin, who competed in the unlimited weight class. The senior lifted 350 pounds between her bench press (190 pounds) and clean and jerk (160), but that was five pounds shy of her combined qualifying total. She finished tied for eighth.
Marcelin was one of two seniors competing among the Bruins' four entries.
"The future looks good, but very disappointed," Bayshore head coach Ryan Miller said. "I feel bad for them, because I feel they wanted it really bad."
In the 139-pound weight class, freshman Makayla Rivera lifted 285 total pounds to tie for 11th. At 183, junior Elisabelle Polynice tied for eighth after combining for 290 pounds on her lifts. At 199, senior Tyra Shelby didn't post a qualifying clean and jerk lift, leaving only her bench press weight. That 155-pound effort left her last among the 20-person field.
Her first clean attempt, Miller said, looked good but it wasn't ruled that way. So the coaching staff bumped her to a higher weight at 165 pounds in order for her to place in her final high school meet.
But it didn't happen.
"She probably would have been in the top six," said Miller about Shelby's bid for the 165-pound clean and jerk.
In that 199-pound weight class, though, Lake Butler Union's Brandy McCoy set a FHSAA state record in the bench press and total weight when she lifted 245 pounds in the bench for a 440-pound total.
"No one was going to touch her," Miller said. "I believe the girl is a freshman and that is unreal."
Miller said watching that can benefit Rivera, a freshman, and Polynice, a junior, for next year.
The Class 2A state meet concludes the girls weightlifting winter season on Saturday. Competing from Manatee County in that meet are Manatee's Heather Ball (101-pound division), Jenny Sypula (101 pounds), Callie Nichols (129 pounds), Brooke Schamber (154 pounds); Braden River's Sierra Rawley (183 pounds) and Palmetto's Elizabeth Atkinson (199 pounds).
Jason Dill, sports reporter, can be reached at 745-7017 or via email at jdill@bradenton.com. Follow him on Twitter@Jason__Dill and like his Facebook page at Jason Dill Bradenton Herald.
This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 12:03 AM with the headline "Prep weightlifting | Bayshore comes up empty-handed at girls state meet ."