The first – and so far only – scheduled home meet of the year for St. Ed’s boys weightlifting team was held last week and the Pirates finished a strong second in the three-team event.
The qualifier was necessary because scheduling can be extemporaneous. For example, the coach at Florida Prep (formerly Florida Air) was searching for some competition and a phone call was enough to slip his team in as a fill-in for a school that cancelled.
Senior Night for most teams is generally at or near the tail end of the season, but not so this year for boys weightlifting. Senior Brian Carter was introduced by head coach Les Rogers and handed the traditional bouquet.
Rogers has an eclectic group that comes in all shapes and sizes. Adam Rogers lifted at 119 while Carter was joined by Isaiah Byrd, Grayson Long and Payton Cleveland in the unlimited (heavyweight) category. J.P. Scott at 139, Jordan Quaile at 154, Edward Klinsport at 169 and Luke Santini at 183 performed in several of the intermediate weight classes.
“I‘ve got brand new lifters to the sport in the sixth, ninth, 10th and 11th grades,” Rogers said, referring to Adam Rogers, Long, Santini and Quaile, respectively. “I’ve also got a wide range of experience with the other guys.”
Klinsport is a four-year veteran. Scott and Carter have been on the roster for three years, although not consecutively. This is the second year for Byrd and Cleveland.
Scott took first at 139 with a bench press of 110 plus a clean & jerk of 121 for a total of 231 pounds. Klinsport won at 169 with a 165-165 totaling 330. Carter put up personal bests of 315-245 to claim first in the unlimited category with a sum of 560.
Rogers was second with a total of 85 at 119. Quaile was runner-up with 213 at 154. Santini had a combined 185 which was good for third at 183. Byrd was second to Carter in unlimited with 450. Long hoisted 400 and Cleveland 300, also in unlimited. The final team scores were Florida Prep 39, St Ed’s 26 and American Heritage 21.
“I’m looking forward to working with these kids,” Rogers said. “The younger kids are open to learning new movement patterns, so teaching them the technique is actually kind of easy. Sometimes the older lifters have developed a few bad habits that we have to break.
“But it’s fun to see all of them when they finally get one to click and really hit it. When they make the movement just the way they are supposed to, and the weight goes flying up, even they are surprised how strong they can be with the proper technique.”
Young people are attracted to this sport for varying reasons. Six of the nine lifters on the team come from the football team and one more from basketball. The goal for all of them is to get bigger and stronger, but Rogers takes it a step or two further.
“We want to help the football players get stronger, but a big part of what we do here is improve flexibility,” the coach said. “We are working on their hips, hamstrings and glutes through a full range of motion with squats, shoulder presses and things like that. They will be able to move better, become more agile, and possibly prevent injuries.”
The clean & jerk entails explosive movements, something Carter regularly displayed on the football field. Rogers has observed the talented defensive end get stronger in the few short weeks since he returned to the weightlifting team after taking last year off.
Carter committed to play football at the University of New Hampshire and devised a plan to transfer his work from the weight room to the gridiron.
“I’m just trying to get stronger right now,” Carter said. “I understand that it’s a competition, but I’m not weightlifting to win a medal. Looking at it that way definitely makes it more fun, but I still have to be focused on everything I do. … I’m looking for various types of training right now to get ready for football in college.”
Rogers said Santini went through a “crash course” to prepare for his first meet. His formal training started the day before. “My coach told me I have to get bigger for basketball (the season just ended) and this is the ideal choice,” Santini told us. “I will get stronger, it’s going to happen. I’m going to try weightlifting as much as I can, but basketball is the reason I’m doing this.”
