Pasco County pair qualify for state
By MIKE TOMPKINS
Published April 6, 2006
NEW PORT RICHEY - In a final attempt to qualify for the state tournament, lifters from Pasco, Hernando and Marion counties gathered at Mitchell High on Wednesday for the Class 2A, Section 4 qualifier.
While several lifters did learn if their season would continue, all anyone else could do was wait.
Following qualifiers at Springstead and Belleview on March 22, this was the final attempt to qualify for the Class 2A meet set for April 22 at Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville. The overall section winners automatically qualify, accounting for eight of the 16 lifters in each weight class.
Among those earning an automatic bid was Ridgewood sophomore Ben Perry, who continued his stellar undefeated season.
Perry, who set a personal record with a 600-pound total at last week's Sunshine Athletic Conference meet, topped that with a 615-pound total, including a 310-pound clean and jerk, to win the 199-pound class. Perry's clean and jerk, on his final attempt, tied him with Central's Daniel Bourguignon, but Bourguignon weighed in at 197.5 pounds. Perry weighed 194.9.
"Ben keeps surprising me," Rams coach Chris Taylor said. "The fact that he's only a sophomore gets me very excited."
River Ridge's Stephen Longhurst also was victorious, winning the 129-pound class with a 415-pound total, which was a pleasant surprise to coach Mike Marlin.
"We were hoping to win with 420 or 430," Marlin said. "But we looked at the results from the last sectional, and the winner only had 405. Stephen weighed less, so even if we would of only hit that, he still would have won."
Longhurst's teammate, 183-pounder Ric Hartwell, opted out of Wednesday's meet after totaling 615 pounds at the Springstead sectional. At Mitchell, no lifter threatened that total, earning Hartwell an automatic bid. Marlin called Hartwell's total "a token lift," adding, "if we have a good day, we should be breaking 700."
In addition to the eight champions, the remaining eight lifters in each class will come from the top eight lifters in the entire region, meaning no one section is guaranteed to have a lifter in each class.