Championship Night at Clay County Sports Report!

Championship Night at Clay County Sports!

Join Randy  Lefko and TIm Mooney  as they talk to our local champs.

National record setter from Fleming Island Island Track: Triple Jump Champ Mikayla Shavers

Oak Leaf Weight Lifting: Noah Shevchook

Keystone Heights Weightlifting: Elijah Mize, Kyle Perkins, Colton Hollingsworth

Cholita Rodriquez- Jax Iron man Competition this weekend,

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Clay County Sports Report on Clay Radio, your home team station. Each week we break down the big plays, celebrate standout athletes, and bring you the stories behind the scores. Now here are your hosts, Clay Today's sports editor, Randy Lefko, and Clay Radio's Tim Mooney.

SPEAKER_04 0:15

All right, Clay County Sports fans, we are near the end of the school year, school seasons, all that kind of stuff. This is Action Pad.

SPEAKER_05 0:23

We we're gonna have a room full of champions here today. This is a great, great problem to have. This is we're gonna have people here that have we've had them on before. We've had people here.

SPEAKER_04 0:31

But that's the key.

SPEAKER_05 0:32

I'm just saying, we've had them here. They go do their thing, they come back with uh hardware. Yeah. So this is a great thing. Um we tell them if you hey when you win your championship, come back and visit us. You know, it's a catchphrase. It's like, hey, you're welcome back anytime. Well, they're taking us up on it, and it's a great thing to have. We're gonna be have a pack studio tonight.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

So, you know what? One of the coaches said something that, you know, and we talk about it ourselves, is we affirm that they're doing a good job. Yeah. And it gives them a little boost of confidence when they get to where they're getting, because uh uh, you know, one of the guys actually said he got up to do his thing, and all he remembers me saying was, let's just go kick somebody in the go next. And he and he and he blasted a PR. So, you know, and you wanted to whatever it takes to inspire these kids or affirm that they're they're great athletes, great people.

SPEAKER_05 1:19

And you wanted me to take that out when I was doing editing. And I kept it in there just for that reason and motivate. You never know. I mean, we're keeping it clean, we're keeping it PG, but you know what? That's the mindset you have to have when you're going for a championship or you're going for any kind of personal record, anything you're doing for you, go kick them in the go now.

SPEAKER_04 1:32

I think it's you always say this. Uh we we're just acknowledging the hard work that you do, and I think the kids take that to heart when they go do it and they pass it on to their uh their teammates, and uh, you know, and then things work from there. So we'll uh we got a house full of gold gold medals come here, so it should be exciting. And a girl. And we may have a special guest show up either by phone or uh stepping in. We don't know yet. I'm not quite sure.

SPEAKER_05 1:57

All right, we'll make it a surprise and we'll be back right after this.

SPEAKER_04 2:00

Let's rock. All right, Clay County Sports fans. All right, we uh we talked about we have a room full of champions. Well, the first one is here. Michaela Shaber is a uh now double triple jump state champion. Michaela, welcome. Michaela Shaver here with our coach, uh uh former Fleming Island standout, Connor Akers, as well. Welcome you two.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Hi, how are you?

SPEAKER_04 2:22

What's going on? Now, are you still training or are you still in the clouds of uh accomplishment?

SPEAKER_06 2:27

Uh I have a week off just to get my body a break, but I started training on Monday.

SPEAKER_04 2:31

Do you do any kind of uh maintenance stuff like jogging uh what are you jogging? Like like 10 miles a day or something to keep your endurance up. No, Connor.

SPEAKER_06 2:40

I've just been riding the bike.

SPEAKER_04 2:41

Wrong Twitch fiber.

SPEAKER_11 2:43

Wrong Twitch fiber.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

Wrong Twitch fiber. So uh uh Timo, unbelievable. They they get down there and and uh she's marked, she's a marked person. I mean, she's the defending champion. The gal who was second to her is also there. And they're on the and I from what I understand, they're both you're both going to University of South Florida, Jas Jasmine, what's her name? Jace Miller. Yeah, Jace Miller. So the duo was coming. It's like uh Muhammad Ali and George Foreman too. George Foreman or Joe Fraser, stuff like that. Whoever uh now, did you think of it going that? Well, before we get to the whole result there, we're gonna we're gonna build this up for a couple minutes. Did you think about that or are you are you one of these ones like I used to tell uh my guys, be the scary guy off the bus? You know, and then I know Connor, I don't know what your motivational pre-thing is when it comes to that. Who's coming in second? Who's coming in second?

SPEAKER_05 3:35

Yeah, I mean uh now Connor, did you show up in work clothes for this or you just go as a coach?

SPEAKER_11 3:39

Just as a coach.

SPEAKER_05 3:40

Okay, just making sure, because that would be a little intimidating, right?

SPEAKER_04 3:42

Well, when we take the photo are we allowed to take your photo with us? Okay, now it Connor is a uh renowned uh FHP Florida Highway Patrol canine drug enforcement? Yes. Is that what you do? So when you uh if you see those lights behind you, don't forget. He won't be behind me. He's not alone. He's not alone. There's a buddy in there and and uh and uh that does probably a lot more sprints than Michaela does.

SPEAKER_06 4:05

Yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_04 4:08

So so talk talk talk us about the uh the morning. The morning of you were there Friday. Yeah. And uh now you you started with the long jump, got second in the long jump, and uh earlier earlier in the I think one o'clock start was everybody there. When did you get there? When did you start building up your head?

SPEAKER_06 4:26

Um, I got there around twelve fifteen, but my mindset kind of started Monday. Like I kind of had to get myself ready like the whole week. I had a few scary moments throughout the week, so I was trying to stay calm.

SPEAKER_04 4:39

Scary like what? Like practice pit jumps and like an injury scare. That's what I mean.

SPEAKER_06 4:45

Yeah, I actually wasn't jumping that day. I was um trying to get ready for the four by one and my quad tightened up on me, so I thought I'm like, wait, no, like I gotta stop. It could be a pool, I don't know what it is. So I just I really didn't do anything last week um leading into state.

SPEAKER_05 5:00

Just mental going on right there. And that's the hardest part sometimes.

SPEAKER_04 5:03

In the in the in the execution of the triple jump, which we we've talked about before being so technical, is it really uh pertinent to to do anything physically, endurance wise or training wise or conditioning wise, or is it more of uh keeping keeping tight on the execution?

SPEAKER_11 5:22

It's a little bit of both. Um at that point of the season, it's more of just a maintenance thing. It's just yeah, because there's not much you can do in four days. Yeah, keeping the mindset, keeping everything on track, keeping just everything kind of kind of on the right track. Just staying with timing, more of drills, not you're not adding anything the week before.

SPEAKER_04 5:46

So as it got closer, what was going on in your head? Like uh Thursday.

SPEAKER_06 5:50

Um Thursday. Did you sleep okay Thursday night? No. You're the defending champion! You're the best in the state.

SPEAKER_04 6:00

Did you go to prom?

SPEAKER_06 6:01

No, I didn't go to prom on.

SPEAKER_04 6:04

Prior Saturday, right?

SPEAKER_06 6:06

I'm too focused on my own. I wasn't really worried about that or grab ash, but I did not sleep the night before. I was the broken sleep. I slept for about two hours and like.

SPEAKER_04 6:15

Did Grandma give you any uh any advice?

SPEAKER_06 6:18

No, I told my I told my people to leave me alone. I didn't need everyone to just stop talking to me.

SPEAKER_04 6:22

So to get there on Friday, we'll we'll go right to it here. And uh the first Oh Jesus, that's Chepchuk. Hold on. You want to get cut it off for a minute?

SPEAKER_05 6:31

Three, two, one.

SPEAKER_04 6:33

All right, Michaela. Well, we just had our uh second gold medalist coming in, Noah Chepchuk, uh weightlifting uh 3A state champion. Noah, welcome. Hello, how's it going? All right, Noah, we're talking with Michaela Shavers here. Uh she is the uh double triple jump state champion for Fleming Island.

SPEAKER_05 6:51

Have you guys ever met the Sunday night? Hold on, let's stop the double triple. That sounds like a different kind of uh track event. Two time. Two-time. Oh okay. Two-time triple jump, because it's a double triple. So she's jumping six times in one event. Did you know what I meant? Did you know what I meant?

SPEAKER_06 7:05

Yeah, I mean, shut up, Tim.

SPEAKER_04 7:07

We got this. Uh so so we you get out there the first jump. First jump out of the out of the out of the blocks. What happened?

SPEAKER_06 7:14

What for triple jump?

SPEAKER_04 7:15

For triple jump.

SPEAKER_06 7:16

Um, I was told that I was behind the board and I didn't know because it wasn't like a real board, so I can't hear it. Normally I can hear if I'm on it or not. It was taped, so I didn't know, but it was a good I mean it actually wasn't a good jump. It was kind of kind of what it looked like.

SPEAKER_11 7:31

Not very good. I know you always say it's a majestic uh event there. Well, it's funny because she jumped 1290 on her first jump, which is 0.01 off of her PR. 424 at the time. And everybody was extremely excited. Yeah, yeah. Except for me. Because I know the event and I know what I'm looking at, and the second that I watched the jump and then re-watched it on the camera, I was like, immediately came to her and said, Hey, that ain't what we're looking for. Because we had set a goal that we wanted the state record. It was it wasn't even a matter of getting first place or jumping a PR. It was that day was state record or bust.

SPEAKER_04 8:06

Yeah. Because you guys were what, two, three feet ahead of Jace Jace Miller was the only one incapable of uh if she had a good jump.

SPEAKER_06 8:13

No, I really wasn't worried about her. No, no, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:15

She was a 40, 40 and change, yeah.

SPEAKER_11 8:17

She's she's in a caliber round.

SPEAKER_04 8:19

Okay, so so was what was the adjustment or was it just a mental thing, just take a look at the case.

SPEAKER_06 8:25

He told me to go up five inches, but also think, oh, and make my first three steps quicker because I was really nervous, so like my legs were shaking, and like my first three steps were really slow because I was trying to get my legs under me because how nervous I was. So I kind of just like calmed down, I went and sat down, but I eventually had to get up because everybody like kept coming back to me and like, oh, you're about to get this record, you need to go jump this record.

SPEAKER_04 8:46

And I'm like, So you don't do I don't think I've ever seen you do the uh the hype up like some of the guys do when they clap over their hands and who's the the girl for the American gold med the gold medalist that did that and and won the gold medal? Terra Waddle? Yeah. You know, she's the one that gets the whole crowd hyped up in the stadium winner, but you're pretty serene. I don't have you ever done that?

SPEAKER_06 9:06

Yeah, I did it twice this year. But it was like just for fun. It was just for fun. But I did it on my last attempt at the time.

SPEAKER_04 9:12

So what was the feel going back to the board? Now you what you had like 15 other girls that were jumping, or is it two you were two flights or what? Yeah, it's two flights of eight. So you had seven other girls that were jumping around you.

SPEAKER_11 9:23

Oh, excuse me.

SPEAKER_04 9:25

So you had a little bit of time to think about it, get it done, and then uh you go in and you make your adjustments. How did it how did the take? Do you remember that? Do you remember the the actual as you took off? Okay, this is feeling really good.

SPEAKER_06 9:36

Um my mind kind of just goes quiet. Like I don't really think about anything, I just do. So I can't even tell people like what I think I did wrong unless I like actually. So let me see.

SPEAKER_04 9:46

Let me ask kind of do you do do the steps create the board step, or do you are are we watching that? Because you know, sometimes they get too far ahead of it and they're skipping before they hit the board, or she got it so and that's uh just the sport as a whole when it comes to long jump and triple jump is it is exactly measured out.

SPEAKER_11 10:06

Like we know her stride and all that kind of thing. No, like the foot. Like she she jumps from 101 feet. Like, and sometimes I'll put we'll play with the inches a little bit. Like if you know we had a tough week at practice and she's not covering the distance like she normally would, might scoot her up an inch or two or five or three, but it's normally we start out at 101 feet.

SPEAKER_04 10:25

And it's so were you confident that the uh moving up you said she said moving up five inches? Is that what you did? You were confident that that wasn't gonna make her foul?

SPEAKER_11 10:34

Yeah, absolutely. I've watched her jump thousands of times.

SPEAKER_04 10:36

So when it was as it was going, I I always I like to see it from your perspective. What did you see as it was going?

SPEAKER_11 10:42

I knew within so the in long and triple jump, the only time that you can really affect anything on the run-up or the first three steps or the last three steps, by the fifth step that she took, I knew she had the record.

SPEAKER_04 10:52

Really? Yeah. So as you're flying through the air, is there a moment where you're going, oh, this is good?

SPEAKER_06 10:57

I knew it was a good one.

SPEAKER_04 11:00

So in in the triple jump. Have you ever watched the triple jump, Noah? So you so you you're floating and then you you hit the other one, you do the skip, and then you go like that. Is there is there a feeling, okay, that was good, my arms are in the right spot? Because you were talking about the placement of everything last time, which was fascinating. Then you hit it and then you go, and then uh Where where in your uh perspective of the jump did it hit you like, oh, this is gonna be good.

SPEAKER_06 11:25

Coming out of my second phase of the phone.

SPEAKER_04 11:27

Is that the skip of the jump?

SPEAKER_11 11:28

The skip skip jump.

SPEAKER_06 11:31

Yeah, my skip phase, going like into the pit. I was like right at the edge of the pit.

SPEAKER_04 11:37

So how do you not get excited and and kind of go sideways? You know, I see sometimes jumpers, even long terms, go sideways.

SPEAKER_11 11:43

Bad form.

SPEAKER_04 11:44

Yeah, absolutely. And I we've talked about her perfect form, Nanda. So when you hit the sand, that would do you see the markings on the side like this was the furthest. Do they do that in high school? No, they don't so you're you're going into a clean bit of sand?

SPEAKER_11 11:57

Yes. College meets are the only ones that put a measuring board on the side. So you hit it and then what?

SPEAKER_06 12:02

I got out the pit and he started yelling. He was like, hey, hey.

SPEAKER_11 12:06

Well, normally for me, like I thought it would be going like boom, there it is. She knows if I yell at her in the air after her jump, it's a good one. So in in the a video that I took and a couple of other videos, um, you can hear me yell reach. I knew it was good, and I didn't want the last percent of the jump, the last one percent, just to float it. To be the issue. Yeah, yeah. So normally I will verbalize to her and I can get really loud, reach.

SPEAKER_04 12:35

Okay, so what'd we do? We went to 42, 11 and a half inches. That's pretty good. And that's that's a new 21-year broken record right there that Connor has says we'll stand forever because it was so magnificent. Why? Why is that one? Why does there nobody like you and nobody like her coming? Um, or is it a perfect jump?

SPEAKER_11 12:55

No, no, no, no. She she 100% has more. It's just, yes, every generation gets bigger, stronger, faster, but when you put it in terms of what the record was, which is 1301, so 13.01 meters, that stood for 21 years. 21 years. That's crazy. Not only did she break the record, she smashed it with the 1309 jump. So it's just we say as coaches, every now and again, you get you get that once in a million athlete. And if Michaela is it's it was almost a perfect storm.

SPEAKER_04 13:24

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_11 13:25

Between an event that I have a lot of experience in and did for a very long time, and I'm a student of the craft. Like I always say, if you're the smartest guy in the room, find a new room. Yeah, yeah. I'm constantly trying to find new rooms. So it's kind of a perfect storm that an athlete of her caliber that already had a very good grasp on the event, and then a coach with my experience, because when you get to that caliber and you're jumping the marks that she was jumping, it's the little things that make the difference.

SPEAKER_04 13:51

Oh, it's just like in swimming when you're Caleb Dressel is fingers coming in, wristband, all that kind of stuff when he swims up 50 meters in 17 seconds.

SPEAKER_05 14:01

And this must be a great thing as a coach to have somebody that wants to be coached and be coachable.

SPEAKER_11 14:06

Yeah, and I'm I'm a harder coach. Honesty is the best policy, and sometimes the truth hurts.

SPEAKER_05 14:11

You gotta call an ugly baby an ugly baby.

SPEAKER_11 14:13

And it's nice to have an athlete that can take that hard coaching and internalize it and use motivation because there are some other athletes that I coach that I have to be a little bit more gentle with, because you can, you know, they're they're kids at the end of the day. You don't want to shut them down, but if you coach some athletes a little bit harder than others, sometimes you can coach you could shut them down. With her, there's no shutting her down.

SPEAKER_04 14:34

Nice. So so we're just gonna make uh one thing. Sophomore uh what's Sonia Sonia Michelle? What's the girl from Ridgevie? Sarah Michelle. Sarah Michelle, I just want to mention that she was also in there. She went sixteen sixteen feet on the on the long jump. Just to put it out. We had some re we had another uh Ridgeview kid in there. Uh Sarah Michelle was really did well out there. So uh so she went 4211. That's uh NCAA ranks right there, right now. So uh uh Michaela, Connor, so McCaugh or Connor, is uh is this going to infiltrate into your your police stuff there that you might become like an Olympic coach to have this kind of success?

SPEAKER_11 15:13

We'll see. We'll see.

SPEAKER_04 15:15

So Michaela, we appreciate you coming down, sharing the gold medal with us. We're gonna get a photo. We got our uh we got our second batch of gold medalist guys in the stable, as you might say there. Timbo, any last words?

SPEAKER_05 15:26

I just you we told you last time you were here when you win the championship, come back and see us, and you didn't. We appreciate that. So next year, when you win the championship for college, oh come back and see us. Or call us if you can't get the. Well, no, no, come up. Come stay us. So we'll be able to do that.

SPEAKER_04 15:40

What's gonna be your interaction down in South Florida?

SPEAKER_11 15:42

Or is this I'm gonna be there for whatever she needs me for, but sometimes you gotta let the the you gotta let the hatchling spread their wings and fly out of that.

SPEAKER_05 15:49

Let the little bird fly. All right, all right, we'll be right back with more gold medal. All right, right after this. Starting segment two. We already had our track champion in here.

SPEAKER_04 15:57

All right, now we got four guys here that are gold medalists for uh weightlifting. We've got our second round of uh gold medals here. We got a possible third guest, third uh sport guest that's gonna call in at about 6.30. So that'll be interesting. Yeah, another another champion of sorts coming in from that way. So this uh now we got Noah Shepchuk, who's uh won the 169 Olympic and traditional weightlifting uh state title. Noah, Noah's here. We got Elijah Mice here, who's the 129 traditional champion for a second year in a row from Keystone Heights, who was 119 state champ. Uh last year Noah was at 154. Elijah, welcome.

SPEAKER_09 16:36

What's going on?

SPEAKER_04 16:37

Right next to him, Colton Hollingsworth from uh Keystone as well, the 139 Olympics champion. And uh Colton's got an interesting story. We'll get to that here. Say hi over there, there, Colton. What's up? Very talkative here in uh in Keystone Heights. So uh, and the third guy we got is Kyle Perkins, who had the most explosive state title uh run over there, winning the Olympic state title uh with his last thing, and they almost ran me over. What do you see? The clay today picture on the front page because uh he looked like he was a fullback. He had Coach Levy Alvarez, who's in the back of the room with us, and uh also Ray Trimble. I had three uh kind of bulls in the China shop coming at me there, but I did my job. I took the photo. Kyle, welcome.

SPEAKER_08 17:18

How's it going?

SPEAKER_04 17:20

All right, boys. What do we think? What do we think about this? What do we think about this? So let's let's go with Noah here. Noah impressively was lifter of the day again, correct? He also added the Olympic State title this time with uh with uh how did it go? 700 total weight, new uh new state record there. 385 on the bench press? Uh yeah. 385 on the bench press. Was it close at all?

SPEAKER_07 17:44

What the bench? Nah, um I could have probably gone up five pounds.

SPEAKER_04 17:48

You wouldn't uh you have a teammate, Walker Weathers, that was uh second place to you, 625 to your 700. Now, is he a underclassman, senior? No, he's a junior, so next year you gotta look out for him. So is he your is he the next great uh lifter coming out of Oakleaf there? And then your uh your buddy Ethan Simons, who we called the silent assassin, he got third and fourth. The impressive thing about that, and where where Keystone won the two team titles, traditional in a tie with West Nassau and uh and uh Olympics with a blowout of Father Lopez, is that Oakleaf goes to the state championships with like five guys, and they finish third and fourth in the team scoring. Yeah, which which is because they blow up the top of the ticket there with uh him, who was Lucius Manley was there, Ethan Simons, Garvin Bonholm, is that his name?

SPEAKER_07 18:39

Yeah, and Daniel Israel.

SPEAKER_04 18:41

Daniel Israel in the smaller way. So so uh interesting stuff there for that. As the meet went along, what was going on in your head? You were a marked man, everybody knew you could lift the heck out of everything.

SPEAKER_07 18:52

Um, snatch. Uh originally I thought 265 was to break the state record, uh, but they put it in wrong. So well I hit that uh 265 and then we go into cleaning jerk. Um I kind of knew like I just have to hit all three lifts and I got the win. I kinda uh messed up my first because um 305. Yeah, it kind of landed weird on my neck. I think it like messed up an artery or something. It like uh like lost circulation in my brain. Something like that.

SPEAKER_04 19:18

You didn't blank out on the on your gr on the foot, did you?

SPEAKER_07 19:20

Almost, almost. Really? I didn't. Um saw to recover, just lay on the floor, and then I come back, smoke it second, hit 315 third.

SPEAKER_04 19:28

Was there now you had your brother there, Elijah, was uh also a 154 state champ a couple years before you. What was said? What was said after the miss at 305? Was there panic? I I doubt it, but you kind of knew where you had to go to stay in contention because the other guys around you were pretty good in the cleaner jerk. Yeah. From what I saw.

SPEAKER_07 19:47

Yeah. Um, no, it was pretty calm. I mean, I just knew I had to hit it again. Uh you just said just go out there, do your thing, you know you can hit it.

SPEAKER_04 19:54

Did it feel as good as the first one? And I'll I'm gonna ask Elijah the same thing, because he had a battle last year and had a good battle this year.

SPEAKER_07 20:02

Uh I think I felt a little better just because I won both. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:05

Okay. And then Elijah now, these defending 119 traditional champion came in here. He had a 135 on your Olympic snatch. You missed the middle one, came back and got the 150. And then, but again, the bench press, what do we do with bench press in this county? These guys all crushed the bench at 235, 250, 255 for Elijah at 129 and uh to win the traditional title there. Was uh those more impressive lifts from last year? Because last year you wanted on a bodyweight tie, correct? What was going on this year? You got a but you had your little guy, Rylan, right behind you too, Rylan Rosier?

SPEAKER_09 20:43

Yes, sir, I did. Um I think it was a little bit different coming into the season with both of us being in separate weight class. I know uh I I kind of maintained weight in the 19s, so I shot up to the 29s.

SPEAKER_04 20:53

Um I had a good idea who my competition was at state, so it wasn't uh it wasn't as nerve-wracking, but um were you as strong coming in at a low 129 than you were last year at a at a at a 119? That the is the transition make a difference or strong is strong?

SPEAKER_09 21:10

Uh definitely felt stronger this year just because once you put on that much weight, um it definitely reflects in the lifts that you hit. But um yeah, this year it was a lot it was a lot more demanding during um during the season trying to maintain body weight and um trying to uh weigh in lower than everybody else, knowing that I had a lot of competition at state.

SPEAKER_04 21:29

How hard is it for you and nowhere as well to be the defending champion, knowing knowing that you're going in and everybody knows who you are, kind of kind of thing?

SPEAKER_09 21:38

Uh there's just a lot of um there's yeah, there's just a lot of tension at state. There's a lot of people like you know that you have a lot of people looking up to you and there's definitely a bunch of pressure on you.

SPEAKER_04 21:48

How did it permeate the team now? Because you guys won handily in the uh in the Olympics one and then y you came out with a twenty to twenty time. Now, when it's that low, Coach Alvarez in the back there, when it When the scores are that low, what is it what does that mean versus the scores being as high as they were in the Olympics? It means teams are a lot closer in, I guess, the bench press.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

Well, it it can mean a lot of things. It can mean that you have a lot of teams that are neck and neck and they're battling it out, or you can have some teams that are missing lifts and you got guys coming back. It's it's really just depending on who's gonna go three for three on every lift and and who's gonna battle it out and who's got more grit to take it over.

SPEAKER_04 22:27

Yeah, well they what are you the Indiana, the who's your lights, who's your dome there? Now give us a little bit about you, Levi. You take over for uh Steve Reynolds and uh Lance Lowry, who uh created his little legacy there. Now uh you also gave him credit for creating the standard, you know, and uh this is step one of making your own standard, I guess, or your own dynasty. Is that the was that in the in the cards for you accepting the job, knowing that Keystone Boys weightlifted is tops in the state?

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Well, I mean I got a pretty storied uh past in weightlifting. I I lifted for legendary coach Bobby Johns and Corey Green, uh Danny Green, Orange Park legend, and then I got to come over and work with Steve Reynolds and Lance Lowry. So um So you got to learn from the best. I've got to learn from the best, I can say that. And uh and when I got the opportunity to take over, it wasn't you know trying to create my own legacy, it was just upholding the standard that these guys have set before me and including these three sitting with me. I mean, these guys work their tail off, and it's just my job to make sure that we're keep continuing to do the same thing.

SPEAKER_04 23:27

I'm talking about these other two guys here, Colton, Holysworth, and Kyle Perkins, first time champions. And now uh Colton, are you second and third last year by a lot one one by tie? Then you have a tie last year, Colton?

SPEAKER_10 23:41

I don't remember if I had a tie last year, but I was second Olympic and third and traditional last year.

SPEAKER_04 23:45

Yeah, yeah. And and I think they were they were pretty close. Uh and then Kyle, where were you last year compared to coming here?

SPEAKER_08 23:52

I think I was eighth and tenth, I think.

SPEAKER_04 23:55

So what was the motivation to to what was the motivation this year to to uh turn the trick? You from eighth place. Now that's a lot of weight between finishing eighth last year and then winning the state title this year. What was the what was the move?

SPEAKER_08 24:08

Just to work harder. I mean, last year I worked hard, but this year I really wanted it, and I I needed to work harder.

SPEAKER_05 24:15

So you kind of just tasted it and you're like, okay, that's what I want now. Yes, sir. And that was just your motivation for the entire season. Yes, sir. There you go.

SPEAKER_04 24:22

And then Colton, you coming in with as a multi-sport athlete at uh actually actually most of kids at Keystone are multi-sport athletes anyway, but you almost had a perfect run. Yeah, your your three Olympic snatches, 65, 75, 85, your three cleaning jerks, 25, 35, 45, and then 230, 245 on the bench, and you missed it 255. Uh was that going for a record or was this just keeping the momentum going?

SPEAKER_10 24:49

No, sir. Well, I actually missed my 185 snatch, and that set me back 10 pounds. But the bench press was the bench press I hit at regionals, and I just didn't have enough energy in me to hit it at state. But the snatch set me back 10 pounds from that other kid's snatch, and I knew I had to do 10 pounds better on clean jerk to beat him by body weight, and that was my mindset going in if I had second place locked up that I would go ten pounds above him on clean jerk, whatever it was I had to do, to be able to beat him by body weight to get first place in the Olympics.

SPEAKER_04 25:17

Now, are you a junior, senior? Senior. Senior, so you've been with the program four years through through uh thick and thin kind of kind of thing. You too, Kyle?

SPEAKER_08 25:26

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04 25:26

And Elijah, you as well?

SPEAKER_08 25:29

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04 25:30

So what's what's the legacy what's the legacy mean to you guys? Let's go with Kyle here.

SPEAKER_08 25:34

It means just uh work hard from past people that and the weight lifting program. I mean, you you just want to do you just want to do better than them, even though you just wanted to maintain and set a new line for somebody to cross.

SPEAKER_05 25:49

So you can set the influence for somebody that's the underclassman for you to look at you and say, Okay, he did it this good, I'm gonna do it better now.

SPEAKER_08 25:56

Yes, sir. That's that's mainly what it was. There you go.

SPEAKER_04 25:59

Now when you were doing your 290, I was standing behind you, and uh what did what was going on in your head? Was that needed to get your title, or had you had the title locked up by then?

SPEAKER_08 26:10

I needed 290 to get my title. Oh, you did? Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04 26:14

So going up to it, uh what did Coach Alvarez tell you?

SPEAKER_08 26:18

He basically told me this is what we've been doing all year, and I needed to hit it, and to get it, it would have been just unbelievable just to just to do it and to get the title.

SPEAKER_04 26:27

Now, did you feel that good going up to the bar?

SPEAKER_08 26:30

Yes, sir. I was a little nervous, but it f it felt good before I was going up there.

SPEAKER_04 26:34

So you had the I remember you had the whole team basically behind you uh as you were lifting. I think you were the last lift of the day for for the uh cleaning junks for our guys, and uh it was pretty exciting to watch you execute that.

SPEAKER_08 26:46

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04 26:47

Colton, yours? I didn't get you, I got you in your one of your preliminary junk or lifts, and I wanted to see, did you get excited after yours? Oh, I got real excited.

SPEAKER_10 26:56

Did you? Oh, I missed it. Right after I uh got my lifts, everybody was saying that Kyle was attempting his third to win it on Clean and Jerk, and pretty much the whole team was over there cheering on him because he was the last one to go. So it kind of was like a bang bang thing going on, and then right after that's whenever I figured out that we won Olympic as a team. So all all that happened at once was it was really cool.

SPEAKER_04 27:16

Yeah. And Coach Alvarez, were you were you watching at 139 and saying, okay, are we gonna have a momentum of maybe two or three guys? Were you did how many guys did you have in position after Colton won? Because uh uh, you know, you still had guys in the mix uh lifting stuff there. Were you counting counting cards at that point?

SPEAKER_00 27:35

Well, I wasn't counting cards. Uh I was just mainly focused on how many lifts are we gonna hit? Are we gonna come in and we gonna stick to the plan and go three for three? And luckily everybody had a great day. Um, you know, Rylan Rosier ended up scoring points in Olympic, Elijah scored points in Olympic, and luckily it all worked out where we were ahead. And um, and like Holly said, it was it was a bang bang thing. After we had just got done celebrating his win um in the 39, it was uh one of my assistant coaches came over and said, Hey, Perkins is about to go for it.

SPEAKER_04 28:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

And so we we all hauled over there and we're we're one team, man, and we're gonna get behind our guys, and that's it was electric.

SPEAKER_04 28:12

And the cool thing about weightlifting, too, is not only were Keystone guys there, but a lot of other guys from the smaller schools that uh you know follow you guys or compete with you guys are out there knowing that he was uh on the verge of doing something big over there. We're gonna take a break.

SPEAKER_05 28:27

Yeah, that's a lot more. I mean, I want to hear more about it. We got another segment going on at right after this.

SPEAKER_04 28:31

All right, we'll give these guys a break and we'll come right back.

SPEAKER_05 28:33

All right, right after this.

SPEAKER_04 28:39

All right, Tim. Just want to remind people out there that the Clay High Blue Devils and the St. John's Country Day Spartans baseball teams are both headed down to Fort Myers for the Class 4A for Clay State Championships and the Class 1A baseball state championships for St. John's Country Day. And uh also in softball, Middleburg is playing right now. Actually, uh Yeah, they're well they're playing Wednesday. They're gonna play in uh Tallahassee Childs, the number one seed in the region in the semifinals. They beat Lincoln last week or last week, 12 to 17 to 3 in a in a barrage of bets. So hopefully the number sixth seed Broncos coming in a storm in the number one Childs team.

SPEAKER_05 29:22

We're we're posed uh poised for upset, so that can happen at any time now, especially with any sports with our championship county.

SPEAKER_04 29:28

So person, your coach at uh Clay got his region uh finals win finally, uh pretty dominant over Choctawchi. They're playing Tampa Jesuit on the 19th, uh Jesuit uh number one seed in a def a state champion two years ago. And then uh St. John's is opening up with schoolhouse prep out of Miami. So uh we'll be uh watching them the next uh couple of days, see how that goes.

SPEAKER_05 29:54

All right, and then we're gonna jump right into our third segment. We're gonna have Cholita Rodriguez in there. We're gonna talk about going with the Iron Man, we're gonna have our champions finish up talking, and we're just gonna end this segment strong because that's what Clay County Sports does. We end things strong, we start things strong. There you go, Tibbo.

SPEAKER_04 30:15

All right, Clay. Clay County Sports fans, we have our uh well, one, two, three, four, five, fifth, fifth uh champion online with us now. We have Chalina Rodriguez out there. Chalena, you're with us here?

SPEAKER_03 30:26

I am.

SPEAKER_04 30:27

Are you done with uh maybe a hundred-mile bike today or a fifty-mile run? Or you're you're you're getting ready for your event on Saturday, correct?

SPEAKER_03 30:35

Yep, it's tape for taper. So just just resting and enjoying all the crazy that I got going on in my head. So yep, yep. Getting excited. Getting excited.

SPEAKER_05 30:44

Not I mean, it's not crazy going on in your head. To me, I mean, this is an awesome event you're doing. It's crazy doing it though.

SPEAKER_04 30:50

I mean we gotta we gotta tell our people what do you tell us what you're gonna do, uh Cholina. Maybe they don't they don't remember when you were here a couple of weeks ago telling us how you were preparing for what you were gonna do Saturday.

SPEAKER_03 31:00

Gotcha. So Saturday I'll be doing a 2.4 mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and uh marathon uh run 26.2 miles. So all in one day.

SPEAKER_04 31:11

So for the people people that are people that are listening, let me let me give you a little perspective here. She's gonna start to swim by the Jags Stadium, correct? Metro Park?

SPEAKER_03 31:20

Um yeah, it was where the old landing used to be, is where I'm starting.

SPEAKER_04 31:25

And then they're gonna swim the St. John's River with the current and the manatees and the dolphins and the river taxis and all the jumbo shrimp, also jumbo shrimp, and they're gonna swim, they're gonna swim uh what is that south to uh Memorial Park down in the riverside area, right? So you get out of there. How you how long is that gonna take you?

SPEAKER_03 31:43

Um it depends. There's somebody that swam it this morning. It took them 45 minutes.

SPEAKER_04 31:47

Yeah. Bless it. Whatever, a surfboard? All right, so you get out of there, you you you take your swim stuff off, you put on your bike stuff up. Now, have you ever swimmed to Colton? Have you ever swim two and a half miles?

SPEAKER_10 31:58

I have never swimmed two and a half miles. I'd probably drown before I did. Have you ever swim one mile? I've never tracked how far I've swam. I'm not. I mean, I swim for fun in the lake and stuff.

SPEAKER_04 32:08

Uh, so you get done with that, you pop on your bike. Now you're you're how far are you going on the bike? 112 miles.

SPEAKER_05 32:14

So it's so a Sunday cruise.

SPEAKER_04 32:16

So you're going from Jacksonville to Mickler's Landing in Punta Vidra twice. You go out there, you turn around, you come back, you turn around when you get back, and you go back out again. You go over that big bridge in Punta Vidra by the high school, what four times on both sides. Uh how's that gonna how's that working out with your with your training?

SPEAKER_03 32:34

Oh, it sounds sounds good. It's not too not too too bad. You know that it's Florida, it's not known as hills, but for some other people, you know, it might be a hill to them. But for us, it's just a little bit of an incline because we're so used to flats and a little bit of elevation.

SPEAKER_04 32:47

So have you been have you been to that gym? To that bridge? Have you ridden that bridge yet?

SPEAKER_03 32:52

Um I have risen the bridge a long time ago, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:54

Uh-huh. Noah, Noah, grab the bike, Noah. Uh what do you eat on the bike? No one was with you when you when you were first here.

SPEAKER_03 33:01

So you're studying.

SPEAKER_04 33:04

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 33:04

Congrats, congrats. I heard and I saw them. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 33:08

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 33:08

Good job.

SPEAKER_04 33:09

So, what's the fuel of the bike to be ready for the run?

SPEAKER_03 33:12

I have some electrolytes and stuff in my water and all the time, some salt, and then I'm gonna eat clifflocks and an RX bar, and um, I have some other things that I eat, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at the halfway mark. So kind of what these guys eat. Isn't that what you guys eat?

SPEAKER_07 33:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:28

Peanut butter, jelly, honey, stuff like that. Yeah. Kyle, what do you Kyle, what do you think? You got 112 miles in you? Hold on, this is Kyle Perkins 183 Olympic State Champion. Here we go.

SPEAKER_08 33:39

I am that's so far.

SPEAKER_05 33:42

One of the great things I've I mean, uh doing distance running and stuff like that. I always like to look far ahead and look at the weather. So the weather looks almost perfect for this event for you guys.

SPEAKER_03 33:50

Yeah, it's looking really nice. Yeah, it's looking really good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:54

No chance.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

Yeah, I'm pretty excited. Yeah, pretty excited.

SPEAKER_05 33:57

Low chance of rain, a lot of uh cloud coverage. So, I mean, that's gonna be perfect. And it finishing it up with the run, you're gonna be finishing it up, I'm gonna guesstimate about what, 8, 9 p.m. on uh Saturday night.

SPEAKER_03 34:09

Um let's see. Um you know what? I'm not sure. That sounds real good, though. I'll shoot for that.

SPEAKER_05 34:15

Okay. Well, there you go. So very low chances of rain. So it's gonna be it's gonna be fun. Well, fun for you. It's gonna be fun for everybody watching. Yeah, because that just is that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 34:24

I'll take it. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. I'll take it. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 34:27

All right, Chalia, we got one more question. This is Elijah Maize, the 129 uh traditional champion. Elijah.

SPEAKER_09 34:34

All right, how how far do you have to run after this hundred-mile bike ride?

SPEAKER_03 34:38

Uh 26.2 miles.

SPEAKER_09 34:40

26.2.

SPEAKER_04 34:41

How far have you ever run Elijah?

SPEAKER_09 34:43

I think I've only run like maybe three or four miles.

SPEAKER_04 34:46

So this is after biking and after swimming. What do you think? What do you think about training for that?

SPEAKER_09 34:51

I think I think it's definitely more harder than weightlifting.

SPEAKER_04 34:55

What's your what's your motive? What's your motivation when you're out there on the run? You know, in that uh are you doing six loops on the run? Uh it's three loops. It's a three-loop run. Three loops? What do you do in each loop that uh gets you closer and closer to the finish line?

SPEAKER_03 35:09

Uh you know what? It just says each loop is nine miles, so nine miles is you know pretty doable. It's only a single digit. So that's how I I just break things up like that.

SPEAKER_09 35:20

Oh no, sir. I haven't even thought about it.

SPEAKER_04 35:23

So let me ask you something, Jolita, and then maybe Eliza uh can can work with you on this. You do you get in the weight room, do any weight weight training? I do lift some weights, but not like the guys in there lift weights.

SPEAKER_03 35:34

I don't lift heavy like that.

SPEAKER_04 35:36

Oh, yeah. And then uh so so you come into the finish line like this these guys. What do you like? I just asked uh all three of them, all four of them there, what are they when they step to the platform on the last lift, uh uh Kyle right here had to lift two hundred and ninety pounds over his head to win his state title. What's going through your head when you're coming in that last mile? That uh you know have you felt now I told these guys you're you're a ten Iron Man gal, and uh are you yeah, are you that comfortable with what your training does that you have the mental tenacity, which is what you always talk about, to get there and uh know how to handle the situation when it comes upon you.

SPEAKER_03 36:16

Yeah, for sure. I mean I've done enough to kind of like problem solving different issues that you have when you're out there for that long period of time. So I've kind of been pretty good um at fixing things, you know, upset bellies and cramping and all that good stuff. So I kinda got some different solutions for different things that go on and happen out there, and uh yeah, I'm pretty good at it. And I just you know it's nothing like going through that shoot. I mean, it's just amazing. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 36:46

We're gonna finish off, let him ask you a question, and we'll let you go because he's uh the guy who orchestrated this state. Now I don't know if you the Keystone Heights boys team won two team titles along the way with these three champions. So they're uh their Olympic uh champion team and a traditional champion team coming home as well. So the whole team did the well. So Coach Alvarez, you got a question for our champion over here.

SPEAKER_00 37:08

Yeah, I got I got a question. Uh give us give us a a daily, maybe a daily preparation workout that you would do for a for a big uh race like this. Like do you do you do all three events in one day? Do you do you mix them up?

SPEAKER_04 37:21

Ask her what time she wakes up to do this stuff, Levi.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

I hope it's earlier than you, Candy.

SPEAKER_03 37:27

Uh yeah. Usually I'm out there about 4 30 in the morning. Um, but you know what, it that it depends. Usually you don't, you know, you don't want to over-train. So I generally do the three disciplines three times a week. And then when it gets closer to the racing, that's when we'll double up on some things. We'll bike and we'll run, or we'll swim and we'll run. So we'll do it that way. But on a gen on when we first start training, we don't do uh double disciplines at the same day because that's just way too much on the body. So yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 37:57

We're gonna give each guy like uh how much time we got left to?

SPEAKER_05 38:00

Uh we're at nine minutes right now.

SPEAKER_04 38:02

Nine minutes. We're gonna give each guy 30 seconds to give you a uh moment of inspiration. We got Kyle Perkins first.

SPEAKER_08 38:08

I wish you the best luck. I mean, you're doing things that I mean us in this this room would never do. So I I wish you the best luck.

SPEAKER_03 38:16

Thank you. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_10 38:17

I got uh Colton Hole Hunsworth, uh 139 champion. Keep it up, just like Kyle said. I could never do anything like that, and it is really impressive.

SPEAKER_04 38:26

129 champion from Keystone, Elijah Mice, double uh double uh defending state champion.

SPEAKER_09 38:32

Yeah, I know you're gonna do great. Just uh, you know, do what you do what you keep practicing and yeah, good luck with your with your marathon and stuff.

SPEAKER_04 38:39

And your partner in crime who was on the show with the first time, Noah Shevju over there, dominated the state, set some records, and uh just absolutely blew up his uh his position there. Noah? Uh best of luck, do your thing. And then Coach Alvarez, what do you say to somebody that's uh about to embark on uh what do you think about a 14-15 hour day for you for you at Cholita?

SPEAKER_03 39:01

Uh it'd probably be like 15, 16 hours.

SPEAKER_04 39:06

15 to 16 hours? Yeah, yeah. So you guys go uh you guys whine about a two-hour uh practice there, Colton? No, sir. We get after it. All right, Libra, what do you think?

SPEAKER_00 39:16

Well, I'm I'm gonna tell her uh I'm gonna tell her just like I tell my kids every day, like the great Louis Simmons says, weak things break, it's a good thing you're not. And good luck on Saturday.

SPEAKER_04 39:24

Thank you. All right, Cholita, we're glad you gave us a call there. We appreciate it. And then uh best of luck. Maybe uh I'll be at the top of the bridge one time to take your picture as you're flying over it.

SPEAKER_03 39:35

Sounds good.

SPEAKER_04 39:36

All right, take care, huh? All right, enjoy that finish line.

SPEAKER_03 39:38

All right, thanks. Uh-huh. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_04 39:40

Bye now. All right, boys. Tim, I think we got a broken headset over here. We don't, you got broken heads. Come out of my salary, I guess. So uh so boys, what do you think about that, huh?

SPEAKER_05 39:49

Would you ever consider doing something like that? No, it's just us talking. I mean, we're on the radio cell.

SPEAKER_04 39:54

She's not there, good.

SPEAKER_10 39:55

Uh, we just got a fish shot that was pretty insane. I've never I've never even heard of anything like that in my life. I've heard of marathons, but I've never heard of it. That's an Iron Man. It's crazy. I've never heard of that much swimming, that much biking, and that much running. And one shot. I would think you'd be dead if you did all that.

SPEAKER_04 40:10

They that's why, you know, it it it came about years ago because they used to have a uh it's the the Hawaii Championships is uh uh the world championships out in Hawaii. And it started years ago with SEALs, army rangers, and special forces singing who's the best athlete, uh an open water swimmer, a cyclist, or a runner. And so this uh one guy put it together and said, Let's do it. And they they they swam around the uh island and biked around the island, and that's how the Iron Man came about. I think there were 78 competitors at that time. Now they're gonna be 1700 people there Saturday. 48 countries represented, 31 the 48 states represented. 49 states. 49 states, Alaska couldn't send anybody, and 31 countries are uh are gonna be represented there, so it's gonna be a mess uh in Jacksonville, but it's exciting to see. And uh the thing about it is that I've known people in my lifetime that have done it, but that should never you would never think can do it, you know. And it's a it's a race of attrition, you know. Just like with you guys, you know, you you prepare for it, you work out hard, you eat right, sleep right, study right, whatnot. There's a lot of uh technical parts of it. So uh we you know we appreciate you guys coming. And uh, you know, and I'm glad she was able to call you on our state champion uh radio broadcast here. And uh you know, and a champion is a champion, right, coach? Just like you said, you know, if you work hard, you study your craft, develop your craft, execute and have a mental tenacity, you're you're gonna be successful. And you guys prove that.

SPEAKER_05 41:41

We good, Tim? I think I mean we're great. We're perfect on time. So that's kind of I feel I feel funny. Funny? So yeah, we're ready. I mean, this is awesome. I'm glad, Noah. I'm glad you're back with us. I mean, we told you, hey, when you become champion, come back and see us, and again, you kept your word, so I appreciate that. Yep, thank you.

SPEAKER_04 41:57

Coach Alvarez, we uh we're gonna we're gonna wish you luck on the dynasty building here. You uh obviously step one is is having guys like this on the team, and hopefully this will permeate through the hallways that you know Keystone Heights is back, back in town.

SPEAKER_00 42:11

Yeah, for sure. I mean, we're gonna miss these three sitting here with us and the other three seniors, but you know, these guys left a uh a solid foundation for the guys coming back to to rely on.

SPEAKER_04 42:20

One of the cool things too, especially in the photo that people will see tomorrow is Caleb Moncrief and Ray Trimble are in the photo with you, former former lifters. And and I know that there's been a ton of at your meets, the alumni come back, and that's uh I'm sure that's a big deal. I saw uh Luke Snyder and Mason Dixon some of your dual meets and some of the guys like that at power through the uh the state championship. That's a big deal.

SPEAKER_00 42:43

Right, and and also we had on the floor uh Bryson Wester, he was a former state champion with us. Uh Tucker Kick Leiter, he was a former state champion, and every about every judge that we had this past year, um this past was a was a guy that had lifted for us.

SPEAKER_04 42:57

Yeah, so uh it all fees back. Guys, any last thoughts?

SPEAKER_08 43:00

No, sir. I'm just I'm just happy that we won and I'm ecstatic and everything.

SPEAKER_10 43:05

Kyle, you better get you better get the clay today tomorrow.

SPEAKER_08 43:08

Yes, sir. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 43:09

Colton?

SPEAKER_10 43:12

I'm right with Kyle, and I hope I hope the team will keep it up next year and win another one. Yeah, Elijah, last words.

SPEAKER_09 43:19

I want somebody to beat my record.

SPEAKER_04 43:21

Oh, Noah, no, I don't know. Noah, you got any is is Walker gonna step up to the plate? Is he gonna stay at 69, do you think?

SPEAKER_07 43:28

Or uh I don't know, but I like what Elijah said. I want Walker to do better than me.

SPEAKER_04 43:32

Yeah. All right, gentlemen, we appreciate you coming and uh getting through this. It was kind of frazzling, but uh we have a broken headset that uh I don't know how I think Kyle did that when he gave it to me. But uh Clay Clay we're just gonna broadcast Thursday at seven o'clock, Friday at five o'clock also, Sunday at five o'clock, and then on Monday there'll be a link on uh on the website clayradio.com without a space between the clay and the radio, and then uh and we'll get we'll get links out to you guys. as well so you can share it.

SPEAKER_05 44:02

There we go. Later.