DeLAND – Josh Piasecki tried to fight off the tears, but the St. Cloud senior could not stem the tide as emotions washed over him on Friday.
This time, there was no sadness when he welled up as teammates engulfed him with bear hugs.
This time, Piasecki was the champion. And the tears he wiped away were drips of joy.
A year after finishing as a crestfallen runner-up at the FHSAA Class 2A state weightlifting championships, Piasecki dominated the 183-pound weight class with a record-setting clean and jerk lift and a career-best total of 710 pounds at DeLand High School. He won by 55 pounds.
“This is the moment I’ve been waiting for,” Piasecki said. “I’ve wanted that ring for four years.”
He added the title to a stack of awards that includes a USA Weightlifting junior national championship and said it was the best of all.
“I waited 345 days for this,” Piasecki said, alluding to last season’s second place finish in the 169-pound weight division. “It feels overdue. I’m grateful it happened today.”
Piasecki focuses on Olympic-style weightlifting and limits his training on the bench press, which is half of high school competition. But he made all three of his bench attempts, topping out with a lifetime-best of 355 pounds to take control. He wrapped up the win by making his first clean and jerk attempt (335) and then achieved his second goal when he broke the state meet record for his weight class with a clean 355 on his second try.
Piasecki went for a monster 375 lift on his third and final attempt, but was unable to hoist that weight over his head. He dropped the barbell to the platform and walked off the stage with a prideful smile.
“Ultimately, today was all about the win,” St. Cloud coach Cory Aun said. “This what he strived to accomplish.”
St. Cloud also got a second place performance from Tyler Williams and a third by Brian Gembutis as the Bulldogs finished third in the team standings behind Fort Walton Beach Choctawhatchee and Lake City Columbia. Port Orange Spruce Creek placed fourth.
When Spruce Creek’s Derek Beauchamp learned in January that Piasecki was moving up a weight class he promptly set out to lose nearly 20 pounds so he could drop down and have his own chance to win a championship at 169 pounds. That effort paid off Friday when Beauchamp totaled 645 to win by five pounds over Alex Newman of St. Johns Bartram Trail.
Beauchamp, a senior with a 4.6 GPA who looks little like an elite weightlifter and more like a vice president of the school National Spanish Honor Society (which he is), had to clean and jerk 330 on his final lift to go from second place to first. He nailed it.
The clutch effort completed a comeback from two weight training injuries, a broken ankle and a herniated back, that knocked him out of the sport as a junior.
“I didn’t want to be remembered as an exercise in futility after deciding to come back,” Beauchamp said. “I feel really accomplished.”
New Smyrna Beach junior Joshua Hibbard dominated the 129 weight class and was the third area champion on the day with a 520 total.
Thomas Gross of Spruce Creek and Brett McCarroll of Harmony were weight class runners-up.
FHSAA Championship results
At DeLand High School
Team scores: 1. Fort Walton Beach Choctawhatchee 29; 2. Lake City Columbia 22; 3. St. Cloud 16; 4. Port Orange Spruce Creek 15; 5. St. Johns Bartram Trail 14.
Other area teams: 9. New Smyrna Beach 8; 13. Harmony 5; 16. Apopka 4; 21. DeLand and Leesburg 3; 27. Colonial and Freedom 2.
Individual results (winners and area top six players by weight class)
(bench-clean/jerk—total)
119: 1. Andy Montalvo (Columbia) 250-215—465.
129: 1. Joshua Hibbard (New Smyrna Beach) 280-240—520;
2. Thomas Gross (SCr) 220-230—450;
4. Daniel Brady (Lees) 225-220—445;
5. Jeremy Wilson (DeLand) 250-195—445;
6. Kevin Beriguete (Colo) 245-195—440.
139: 1. Kristian Gonzalez (Seminole Ridge) 280-260—540;
2. Brett McCarroll (Harmony) 250-270—520;
6. George Ridgeway (DeLand) 225-250—475.
154: 1. Justin Scott (Choctawhatchee) *360-310—*670;
4. Vincent Sneed (Spruce Creek) 290-300—590;
6. Noah Circelli (New Smyrna Beach) 290-260—550.
169: 1. Derek Beauchamp (Spruce Creek) 315-330—645;
3. Deshawn Massey (Apopka) 320-290—610;
5. Hector Figueroa (Freedom) 320-280—600.
183: 1. Josh Piasecki (St. Cloud) 355-*355—710;
6. Olumeki Shaffer-Garrett (Colonial) 280-340—620.
199: 1. Kamario Bell (Columbia) 400-320—720.
219: 1. Javon Wilson (Lake Region) 345-*380—725;
2. Tyler Williams (St. Cloud) 370-320—690.
238: 1. Graylon Johnson (Choctawhatchee) 465-360–*825;
3. Brian Gembutis (St. Cloud) 370-285—655.
Heavyweight: 1. Devin Leacock (Port Charlotte) 435-365—800.(*FHSAA meet records)
bcollings@orlandosentinel.com
