After finishing in second place to Sunlake High at the Eastside Tournament on Dec. 16, the Zephyrhills girls weightlifting team hopes to build off that momentum once district qualifiers begin.
The Bulldogs notched 47 points, behind Sunlake (71 points), but ahead of third-place finisher Land O’ Lakes (38 points) at the tournament.
“We did better than I expected and better than years’ past,” said Zephyrhills’ head coach Joseph Rinaldo, who’s in his ninth season. “Over the past five years, I think it’s the best we’ve ever done. Granted 71 to 47 is a big lead, but I didn’t expect for us to score as many points as we did.”
(Kevin Weiss/Staff Photo)
The Bulldogs’ next test is the 1A district qualifier on Jan. 13 at River Ridge High School in New Port Richey.
The road to advancing to regionals and possibly the state finals is perhaps more favorable for the Bulldogs since bumping down from Class 2A to 1A.
“We’re in a lower division now, and there’s less teams that we’ve seen in years past, so it should be advantageous,” Rinaldo remarked.
Rinaldo added there’s a “long way to go” before the Bulldogs can think about reaching the state championships. For example, the team must improve certain aspects of their weightlifting techniques by the time district qualifiers ramp up.
“There are things that aren’t major, but can be cleaned up,” Coach Rinaldo pointed out. “Some of these girls haven’t peaked yet. Some (girls) are still misfiring.
“It’s time to get people in the right positions to try to advance to regionals, and from there, try to get them to states,” he said.
Published December 30, 2015
