Hernando makes strides in third meet of year

Hernando continues to be undefeated in dual competition after home victory.

By DEREK LARIVIERE, Times Correspondent
Published March 15, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - Hernando continued to be undefeated in dual competition after its home victory over conference rival Central on Wednesday afternoon.

The Leopards, armed with returning state placer Robert Smith, defeated the Bears 66-22 behind wins in all but three of the weight classes.

Smith, lifting at 154 pounds, put up 280 pounds in the bench press and 225 in the clean and jerk for a 505 total. Though the weight was enough to win the dual meet, Smith was far from satisfied and vowed to come back stronger after next week's spring break.

"You are going to see a whole new me in a couple weeks," Smith said. "Right now, I am about average, but there are too many places I am slipping up.

"That needs to change if I am going to bring home a first place at states."

Hernando freshman Josh Parnell stood out among the other lifters after breaking the school freshman record for his weight class. Totaling 475 pounds, his clean and jerk caught much attention. After putting up 235 on the bench, the 219-pounder worked his way up to 240 in the clean.

Leopards coach Bill Browning was impressed with his team's progress at this point in the season. Hernando (3-0) won seven of the 10 weight classes.

"This was a good meet for us," Browning said. "We had some personal bests, and after having a couple of lifters not total last week, every guy totaled this time around."

For Central (0-2), the squad relies a lot on the production of two track stars in the weight room. Only one of the those two competitors was present for Wednesday's meet. Jesse Hartman, lifting at 199 pounds, finished with the highest total of any lifter.

The Bears star thrower in track and field, Hartman benched 335 pounds and cleaned 285 pounds, both meet highs. His 620-pound total was 35 pounds more than 238-pound class winner and teammate Aaron Bourgignon. DuJuan Harris, who regularly competes with the Central program, was not present.

[Last modified March 14, 2007, 23:44:07]