It wasn’t enough for Amirah Newton and Molly O’Hara just to win historic state weightlifting championships for East Ridge High School on Wednesday. After their victories and gold medal presentations both left Lakeland to suit up for spring sports games.
Newton, a senior, got back to Clermont in time to play a preseason flag football game. O’Hara, a sophomore, went straight to Longwood to join the Knights softball team for a preseason game hosted by Winter Springs High.
“That’s what’s really cool about them becoming our first girls weightlifting state champions. They’re multi-sport athletes and really good kids,” East Ridge athletic director Ty Ensor said.
The third Orlando area weightlifting champ, Faith Christian sophomore Gia Griffith, is also a multi-sport athlete as a flag football player for the Lions and one of the best young CrossFit athletes in the nation. She won two titles in Friday’s FHSAA Class 1A meet.
Griffith dominated both the Olympic style (snatch and clean & jerk) and Traditional (bench press and C&J) for the 139-pound weight class.
Newton, in only her second year of weightlifting, won the 154-pound weight class championship in the 3A finals at the RP Funding Center. She’s also on the Knight’s competitive and sideline cheer teams.
O’Hara, who was on the bowling team in the fall, won the 129 weight class.
Both said juggling multiple sports is advantageous.
“My favorite sport is probably softball, but I really do feel like all of them make me better,” said O’Hara, who also trains year-round in CrossFit, which combines weightlifting with other workouts.
She is the granddaughter of Bud O’Hara, who put East Ridge on the map with almost immediate success as the school’s first football head coach. Molly’s father, Seth, was an assistant coach for his dad, and is now a teacher at East Ridge Middle School.
Amiah Newton, left, and Molly O’Hara are the first two East Ridge High girls to win FHSAA weightlifting state championships. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Friends and family encouraged Newton to try weightlifting. As a junior, she qualified for the state meet and had 12th and 14th place finishes. She too continued to lift in the summer and fall and made huge improvements with guidance from Knights weightlifting coach Sean Wright.
“I never stopped training and it ended up going really well,” Newton said. “Coach Wright really helped me with my form. It was the technique that really made a difference in my lifts.”
Both Knights girls won in the Traditional competition, which combines bench press and clean & jerk lifts.
O’Hara benched 165 pounds and hoisted 190 overhead in the clean & jerk for a 355 total that made her the 129 winner by 15 pounds.
Newton coupled a 195-pound bench press with a 185 clean & jerk for a 380 pound total. That topped the 370 mark by runner-up Nya Flores of Harmony.
The East Ridge wins were good for 7 points each, giving the Knights a 14-point total that was good for third place in the Traditional team standings behind powerhouse Pace (55 points) of the Panhandle and Punta Gorda Charlotte (29).
Oviedo was fourth with 11 points. Marnee McCue and Anna Ferrell both finished third and Justice Sampson was fourth for the Lions.
St. Cloud was the top 3A area team in the Olympic style (snatch and clean & jerk), finishing fifth with 8 points.
Caitlynn Carver of St. Cloud and Jayleen Sanchez of Tohopekaliga earned area-best runner-up finishes in the Olympic style competition.
Griffith hit all three of her clean and jerk lifts, topping that off with a best of 200. She did the same in the bench-press, closing with a 175 lift for a 375 total that was 60 pounds better than the second placer.
In the Olympic style Griffith added a 145 snatch for a 345 total that made her the winner by 45 pounds.
Here are weight class winners and Orlando area finishers in the top eight. Note that when lifters have the same totals, ties are broken by weigh-ins. Lighter girls place higher:
Class 3A
TRADITIONAL STYLE
Team scores
(top two and leading area teams):
1. Pace 55
2. Charlotte 29
3. East Ridge 14
4. Oviedo 11
T11. Tohopekaliga 5
T11. Harmony 5
T16. St. Cloud 4
T16. Lake Brantley 4
20. Winter Springs 3
Individual weight classes
101: 5. Lucy Ilano (Timber Creek) 240, 6. Gracie Patrick (Hagerty) 240, 7. Samantha Van Adelberg (Oviedo) 240.
110: 4. Jayleen Sanchez (Tohopekaliga) 285.
119: 3. Marnee McCue (Oviedo) 320.
129: 1. Molly O’Hara (East Ridge) 355, 3. Nariya Robertson (Lake Brantley) 340, 8. Jocelyn Rodriguez (Harmony) 300.
139: 3. Anna Ferrell (Oviedo) 350, 5. Julianna Navarro (Tohopekaliga) 330, 7. Isabella Tecklenburg (St. Cloud) 320.
154: 1. Amirah Newton (East Ridge) 380, 2. Nya Flores (Harmony) 370, 4. Gwyneth Jensen (Winter Springs) 365, 8. Rose Bernard (Lake Brantley) 340, 9. Caitlynn Carver (St. Cloud) 340.
169: 8. Camila Mandujano (Lake Mary) 330.
183: 6. Ava Solberg (Boone) 345.
199: 7. Jazera Ellington (Seminole) 350.
Unlimited: 3. Autumn Frost (St. Cloud) 415, 4. Justice Sampson (Oviedo) 400.
OLYMPIC STYLE
Team scores
1. Pace 54
2. Bartram Trail 13
5. St. Cloud 8
12. Oviedo 6
14. Tohopekaliga 5
T18. Lake Howell 4
T18. Horizon 4
Individual weight classes
101: 4. Ilano (Timber Creek) 245, 5. Patrick (Hagerty) 245.
110: 2. Sanchez (Tohopekaliga) 270.
119: 3. Mariam Petit (Lake Howell) 300, 5. McCue (Oviedo) 275.
129: 3. Jordan Schwenneker (Horizon) 320, 4. O’Hara (East Ridge) 320, 6. Robertson (Lake Brantley) 310, 8. Rodriguez (Harmony) 285.
139: 3. Ferrell (Oviedo) 335, 5. Navarro (Tohopekaliga) 330, 6. Tecklenburg (St. Cloud) 290, 7. Shania White (Lake Brantley) 290, 8. Gladiuska Guzman (Lyman) 290.
154: 2. Carver (St. Cloud) 355, 4. Jumana Sunderlin (Freedom) 330, 5. Flores (Harmony) 330, 8. Newton (East Ridge) 315.
169: 5. Camila Mandujano (Lake Mary) 305, 7. Sadie Lindner (Hagerty) 300.
183: 6. Ava Solberg (Boone) 345.
199: 7. Ellington (Seminole) 325.
Unlimited: 4. Frost (St. Cloud) 355, 8. Kirsten Bradley (Lyman) 335, 9. Sampson (Oviedo) 335.
Class 2A
TRADITIONAL STYLE
Team scores
(top two and leading area teams):
1. River Ridge 22
T2. New Smyrna Beach 16
T2. Lincoln 16
T2. Lemon Bay 16
20. Innovation 4
Individual weight classes
110: 4. Mariah Turner (Innovation) 275.
119: 6. Valentina Rodriguez (Innovation) 300.
139: 7. Jasmine Benton (Leesburg) 310, 8. Kathleen Michel (Leesburg) 310.
154: 4. Victoria Barajas (Tavares) 340, 5. Sabrina Vo (Mount Dora) 330, 8. Hannah Stubbs (Leesburg) 320.
OLYMPIC STYLE
Team scores
1. Braden River 28
2. River Ridge 24
T17. Tavares 4
T17. Eustis 4
21. Leesburg 3
Individual weight classes
119: 3. Carson Roden (Eustis) 285, 8. Rodriguez (Innovation) 265.
139: 6. Michel (Leesburg) 310.
154: 3. Barajas (Tavares) 330, 5. Stubbs (Leesburg) 315.
Unlimited: 7. Francellis Ogando (Leesburg) 305.
Class 1A
TRADITIONAL STYLE
Team scores
(top two and leading area teams):
1. Wewawitcha 26
2. Suwannee 18
T10. Faith Christian 7
Individual weight classes
139: 1. Gia Griffith (Faith) 375.
OLYMPIC STYLE
Team scores
(top two and leading area teams):
1. Wewawitcha 42
2. Suwannee 22
T8. Faith Christian 7
Individual weight classes
139: 1. Griffith (Faith) 345.
154: 4. Terry Kena (Foundation) 290.
199: Cali Flowers (Montverde) 290
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
