Lake Minneola state champ focuses on little things for big lifts
Roy Wiggins said last week that his 2022 FHSAA state weightlifting championship performance was based pretty much on pure power.
The Lake Minneola senior relied heavily on the muscle he built up while training for football.
This year, though, Wiggins and his teammate and workout partner, Dylan Thomaselli — also a Hawks football lineman — are doing their homework on weightlifting technique.
That showed at least week’s Class 3A District 7 meet at Evans High School when Wiggins grabbed a camera and hustled down to the floor when he saw that Thomaselli was about to take his turn at a cleanand-jerk lift. They take video of each other’s competition lifts and practice efforts in Wiggins’ garage so they can run them back in slow-motion later.
“We’re a lot more conscious about our training methods this year,” Wiggins explained. “We watch weightlifting videos to learn by and we video our own lifts.”
Wiggins won the Class 2A title in the 219-pound weight class last season. He benched 345 pounds and hoisted 305 overhead in the clean-and-jerk for a 650 total.
He increased that personal-best to 690 at Evans with a 375 bench and 315 cleanand-jerk. Wiggins also dominated the Olympic style competition, combining a 205 snatch lift with his clean-and-jerk mark for a 520 total.
Thomaselli, a Tennessee Tech football recruit, won the 238-pound weight class Traditional and Olympic titles with a 340 bench, 275 clean-and-jerk and 225 snatch.
Wiggins believes he will push his Traditional total well above 700 at the 2023 state meet, which will be held April 15 at RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
First comes the 3A Region 2 meet at East River on Saturday that showcases some of the best lifters in the Orlando area, including Wiggins, Thomaselli, Andres Giron of Windermere, Elvie Valmores of Timber Creek, Nikita Ots of Boone, and David Izquierdo and Nico Aviles of Lake Howell.
Area region competition began Wednesday with Leesburg going to St. Augustine for the 2A Region 2 meet. The 1A-3 meet is Friday at Villages Charter.
A hefty Saturday schedule includes 3A Region 1 at Flagler Palm Coast and the 3A Region 4 meet hosted by St. Cloud.
Lake Minneola won both 3A District 7 team titles. The Hawks edged runner-up Windermere 58-55 in the Traditional competition and topped the Wolverines 77-71 in Olympic style.
St. Cloud swept both titles in 3A District 13, winning Traditional 62-57 over Harmony.
Other sweeps were scored by East River in 3A-5, Orange City University in 3A-4, Leesburg in 2A-7 and Bishop Moore in 2A-8.
In 3A District 8, Boone won Traditional while Lake Nona edged Cypress Creek 55-53 in Olympic.
Edgewater won Traditional
and Apopka won Olympic in 3A-6.
Foundation Academy won Traditional and Trinity Prep won Olympic in 1A-11.
Here are the top area performers to date by weight class. Athletes are listed with their top Traditional total from conference or district meets followed by the Olympic style leader in each class:
119-pound weight class
Sylvester Latimore, Leesburg, 400 (2A)
Michael Ziss, St. Cloud, 390 (3A)
O: Zizz, 380
129
Elvie Valmores, Timber Creek, 455 (3A)
Josh Chaney, Leesburg, 435 (2A)
O: Valmores, 420
139
Nico Aviles, Lake Howell, 505 (3A)
Chuyang Zhang, Winter Springs, 470 (3A)
EJ Primue, Umatilla, 470 (1A) O: Aviles, 410
154
David Izquierdo, Lake Howell, 575 (3A)
Roman Rosado, Timber Creek, 550 (3A)
O: Izquierdo, 505
169
Andres Giron, Windermere, 655 (3A) Malaquias Coronado, Lyman, 615 (3A)
O: Giron, 540
183
Brayden Adams, Harmony, 605 (3A)
Jayden Lewis, DeLand, 590 (3A)
Trey Hansen, Tavares, 590 (2A)
O: Hansen, 515
199
Anthony Rodriguez, Harmony, 630 (3A) Jaycee Kaine, DeLand, 615 (3A)
O: Dylan Hayes, St. Cloud, 565 (3A)
219
Roy Wiggins, Lake Minneola, 690 (3A)
Noah Carr, St. Cloud, 630 (3A)
238
Dylan Thomaselli, Lake Minneola, 655 (3A) Ervin Padgett, Lyman, 630 (3A)
O: Padgett, 540
Unlimited
Nikita Ots, Boone, 660 (3A) MJ Smokes, DeLand, 655 (3A)
O: Smokes, 530