St. Ed’s varsity girls weightlifting team traveled across town to open its competitive season last week with the first of two meets over seven days against Vero Beach High.
The Pirates sent four lifters to Vero and despite some stellar individual performances, came out on the short end of a 56-13 score against a much larger team. Kendra Mathes won the 101 lb. weight class with a bench press of 90 lbs. and clean and jerk of 115 for a total of 205. Rachel Blakeman finished first at 119 with a 55/70/125.
Emma Chiarenza (70/75/145) and Angela Schwerer (65/75/140) were third and fourth respectively in the 169 weight class. Sabrina Santos and Fiona Zimmerman were unable to make the meet due to other commitments.
The teams faced off again this week at St. Ed’s to complete the first half of the regular season schedule for Pirate lifters. The remaining matches are in December against Port St. Lucie and John Carroll.
Five of the six girls on the team are veterans from last year. Four are back for at least a third season and two of those are now in year four. That’s the type of continuity Head Coach Les Rogers hopes to develop when girls as young as middle school age are introduced to his program.
“We’ve got a lot of girls on the team that were with us last year and that’s nice,” Rogers said. “They are a little behind from where they ended up last year, but the veterans that I have will certainly be capable of building on the gains they made last year.”
The main focus for this team is not necessarily to win any of the matches, although it won’t be for lack of effort or desire. Six lifters don’t stretch across enough weight classes against larger schools like VBHS.
Girls take up competitive weightlifting for a variety of reasons. From the standpoint of a certified USA Weightlifting coach, Rogers wants to see all of them learn the proper lifting techniques, make personal gains, and get stronger and more confident in everything they do – all while staying safe and avoiding injuries.
Last year Kendra Mathes became the first girl in St. Ed’s history to medal at the state weightlifting championships. Her personal record total of 250 was good for fourth place in her weight class.
“I’m hoping to make it to states again and do better than I did before,” Mathes said. “It’s all about getting back to where I was. This is just the beginning of the season and we want to do well at the end.”
That’s exactly what happened last year according to her coach. “I’m hoping that she can medal at states again this year,” Rogers said. “She put it all together at the end of last year. She was able to place fourth and I’m hoping she can at least get that and maybe do better.”
The road may be slightly easier this year, at least in terms of the competition. And that could help some of the other lifters move on.
“The FHSAA has split girls weightlifting into 1A and 2A,” Rogers explained. “We are in the 1A classification and we won’t have to compete against big schools like Vero and Martin County. In the past those schools have taken out some of our girls. Besides Kendra, going to the new classification should help out some of the other girls. They may be able to go on to the postseason.”
Those potential candidates would likely be Blakeman, Chiarenza and Schwerer. This is Blakeman’s fourth year on the varsity, while Chiarenza and Schwerer are in their third year. Rogers expects all three to make considerable gains over the next two months before the district meet.
Santos was a new lifter last year and she is still working on perfecting the basic techniques of the two lifts. Her main asset is an important one – good natural strength. Eighth grader Zimmerman is the fresh face on the team. Rogers is excited about “catching her early like this so I will be able to teach her the proper techniques and have her lift some really good weights as she progresses through high school.”
Schwerer starting weightlifting two years ago to cross-train for her main sport. “It has helped me get better at volleyball,” she said. “I got a lot stronger. But weightlifting turned into something that I like to do rather than something that I had to do. There are just a few of us, but we love each other and work very well together.”
The newcomer agrees. “I joined because my brother did it and I saw him enjoying it,” Zimmerman said. “I play lacrosse, tennis and run cross-country and I know lifting will strengthen my core muscles. I’m just an eighth grader and I really enjoy being on a team with 11th and 12th graders.
“And our coach is the best.”
