LIVE OAK — The Suwannee weightlifting program cleared another bar Monday.
In a dominant performance against Madison County, the Bulldogs claimed their 100th straight regular season win between both the boys and girls teams. And they did it in front of a lot of familiar faces with past lifters invited back for the occasion.
“You sit back and you look at stuff like this and I just don’t think it’s ever been done in any sport,” SHS coach Dan Marsee said. “The chances of even pulling this off surprises me. I had no clue until coming into the season.
“We have great community support here. The support around here is just awesome when it comes to what we’re doing with weightlifting.”
The Suwannee boys didn’t disappoint for the celebration either, beating the Cowboys 75-13 in traditional and 80-1 in Olympic where the Bulldogs swept the top two places in every weight class with just one Madison lifter competing.
With just the Bulldog Invitational on March 14 left before the postseason, Suwannee’s win Monday caps off the program’s eighth straight undefeated season, coinciding with Marsee’s return to the school from Fort White. Overall, the last loss for either the girls or boys teams came in the girls’ 2018 season opener where Union County beat them in a tri-meet at Columbia.
“You start thinking about like a girls and boys basketball teams at the same school going undefeated for eight straight years,” Marsee said. “That’s unheard of. We don’t even keep statistics like this because I never would have thought about it.
“I guess it’s lightning in a bottle. The right place with the right kids at the right time.”
SHS also won all 10 weight classes in traditional as well, although Madison did get a pair of runner-up finishes.
Leading Suwannee’s effort were sweeps from Randy Garcia at 119 (395 traditional, 365 Olympic), Chris Gonzalez at 129 (430 traditional, 400 Olympic), Kamden Lang at 139 (445 traditional, 400 Olympic), Cyler Akins at 154 (490 traditional, 460 Olympic), Jayden Francis at 183 (515 traditional, 430 Olympic), Colton Hagedorn at 238 (545 traditional, 485 Olympic) and Will Brown at heavyweight (610 traditional, 510 Olympic).
“We’re young but we’re starting to make some noise,” Marsee said. “Will Brown at heavyweight, he’s not even scratching where’s at yet. He clean and jerked 305 yesterday like it was the bar. He’s coming on like gangbusters.
“The Garcia brothers and Cyler Akins came into the season with everyone looking at them at the state level. They’ve held court.”
Also winning for the Bulldogs were Noah Chauncey (520 traditional) and Freddie Cooks (390 Olympic) at 169, Reese Bronson (555 traditional) and Gage Browning (475 Olympic) at 199, and Brody Bean (580 traditional) and Davian Ramirez (470 Olympic) at 219.
Others who score for SHS were Rah’Darius Cray at 119 (second both), Mark Garcia at 129 (second both), De’Auman Jones at 139 (second both), Gilberto Chavez (second traditional) and Frank Brookins (second Olympic) at 154, Xander McAlpin at 169 (second both), Lorenzo Lee at 183 (second both), Browning (second traditional) and Bronson (second Olympic) at 199, Bean (second Olympic) and Ramirez (third traditional) at 219, Ayden Marangoni (second traditional) and Holden Mantooth (second Olympic) at 238, and Kamari Thompson (second Olympic) and Blayne Crews (fourth traditional) at heavyweight.
“We’re just a team full of guys who are exceeding where I thought they would be,” Marsee added. “We’re making gains right now. The timing has been perfect.”