In just a year-and-a-half, Ximena Carrera has made her mark in weightlifting.
Carrera, who moved to the United States from Mexico at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, won the FHSAA Class 3A girls weightlifting state championship in the 183-pound division on Saturday.
She lifted a career-best, 360-pound total (155 bench press, 205 clean and jerk) to take home top honors. It was an improvement of 15 pounds for the Palm Beach Gardens junior from when she won the regional championship just two weeks earlier.
“I am still in shock,” Carrera said by phone. “I can’t believe that I won. I am the first girl from my school to ever win something at state, so that is awesome. It is great to represent my school, and winning states was pretty cool.
Carrera also qualified for the Junior National weightlifting competition in the 67-kilo division for her native Mexico, but the event was canceled due to the global COVID pandemic.
Carrera had done CrossFit for one year and gave Olympic weightlifting a try. She liked it so she decided to also compete for the school’s weightlifting team. She didn’t train for four months until the school season began.
“I thought I could place first or second at state,” Carrera said. “I am hoping to be able to get into a good college and this could help.”
The Class 1A and 2A FHSAA girls weightlifting competitions were held at Suwannee High School in Live Oak, while the Class 3A tournament was contested at St. Cloud High School.
Dwyer senior Callie Goolgasian and Wellington senior Elle Fields finished third and fourth respectively in the Class 3A 119-pound division.
Goolgasian recorded a personal-best 140 pounds on the bench and matcher her PR with 185 in the clean and jerk to finish with a 325 total, 15 pounds more than her previous best. She becomes the first from her school to medal at state.
“I definitely was nervous,” said Goolgasian, a Junior National champion at 49 kilos. “The adrenaline got me going and I definitely wanted to go out there and have fun.”
It wasn’t always fun for Goolgasian, who took up weightlifting when she was younger to help her cope with getting bullied in elementary and middle school. At 4 feet, 11 inches, Goolgasian said she is taller than she was when she danced and competed in gymnastics.
“My motivation in my weightlifting comes from when I was bullied when I was younger about my height,” Goolgasian said. “Over the years I have grown to be taller, but when I began weightlifting, it gave me a boost of confidence and I no longer struggle with bullying.”
Fields medaled for the second time in her career with a 310-pound total (140 bench, 170 clean). She said she lost motivation this year due to the COVID pandemic eliminating her opportunities to train in the gym.
“This is kind of a big deal,” said Fields, who also brought home a fourth-place medal as a sophomore and was the 2019 Sun Sentinel lifter of the year. “I hadn’t lifted in over a year because Corona unmotivated me. I wanted to medal as a senior. I didn’t care what the medal was as long as I got one. I got into Northern Michigan University and got academic money and this will help me get athletic scholarship money.”
Archbishop McCarthy coach Danny Marks brought an inexperienced group to the Class 2A state tournament and was rewarded with two medalists — sophomore Dana Quiroz placed fourth in the 119-pound weight division, while junior Chatelle Jordan took fifth in the 183-pound weight class.
Quiroz also didn’t qualify for the state tournament last year. The former gymnast increased her total by 60-pounds over last year (135 bench, 150 clean for 285 total).
“It was a huge difference for me to come out of nowhere and get a state medal,” said Quiroz, who competed at 110 pounds last year. “During the quarantine, I just gained muscle. I have competed in other sports before, but I care more about this than anything else. This is way more important to me.”
“It was an amazing experience,” added Jordan, who had a 155-pound bench and 170-pound clean and jerk. She failed to qualify for state in her previous two attempts. “This is great and I am so thankful to make it. After not making it last year, I worked so hard in the gym and remembered what happened last year and that helped me.”
Pahokee senior Abnelle Jean-Louis finished seventh in the Class 1A state competition at the 169-pound division with a personal-best total of 290 (160-130), while teammate Ulicia Grantin, also a senior, finished 11th at state with a 265-pound total (135-130).
Other top finishers at the state meet included: Atlantic junior Neashi Glevis who finished ninth at the Class 3A state tournament in the 199-pound division with a 140-pound bench, and 145-clean and jerk for a 285-pound total. Boca Raton sophomore Olivia Zammett took 16th at state in the Class 3A 129-pound division. She lifted 120-135 for 255 total. She won the regional title to advance.
