Local Lifters Finish Strong At State Meet

Without a doubt, Avon Park's Andejuoa Nixon was nervous stepping onto the mat for her first state weightlifting final.

But that didn't stop the sophomore from setting personal bests in the clean-and-jerk and bench press to lift a total of 305 pounds in the 169-pound class at the state finals at River Ridge High School on Saturday.

Nixon took eighth place out of 27 competitors by benching 165 and lifting 140 in the clean-and-jerk, while Sebring senior Michelle Bash lifted a combined 280 pounds (145, 135) to take 14th in the same weight class.

"She scratched trying for 165 at regionals," said AP coach Pakitta Felix about Nixon. "This time, she got it the first time and went to do 175, but she just couldn't lock her arms out."

Felix said Nixon has the strength to break the 200-pound mark in the bench eventually and that working on her clean-and-jerk technique will pay off over the next two seasons.

"She has to have more confidence in herself," Felix said. "She has two more years and she'll be even better next year. She'll work on technique to learn the weight is her friend, not her enemy."

Sebring coach Steve Berry said Bash took two shots at 150 in the bench and missed at 145 twice in the clean-and-jerk.

"She's a little disappointed with that," Berry said, noting Bash was a model lifter and student-athlete for her younger teammates all season. "She was the best from a character standpoint to how she treated her teammates to how she was the last one out of the gym working hard.

"I couldn't ask for a better person for them to model themselves after."

Felix said the meet served as a good example for her young lifter, and that she hopes Nixon will use the solid finish as motivation during the offseason.

"She saw how serious other schools take the sports and now she has something she can aspire toward," Felix said. "She told me she wants to work all summer."

NOTE: Morgan Candage of Spruce Creek set a state record with a 425-pound total. The 160.4-pounder lifted 215 pounds in the bench and 210 in the clean-and-jerk to take the state title.