DeLand junior Peyton McKenzie had a perfect day, making all nine of his attempts to dominate the 238-pound weight class in Thursday’s FHSAA Class 3A boys weightlifting state championship meet in Lakeland.
He was joined by Boone senior Mason Ewing as Orlando-area state champions in the large-school class. Another senior, Ryan Thompson of Leesburg, won a 2A state title Wednesday at the RP Funding Center. And Kyle Priester, a junior for The First Academy (Orlando), won a 1A state title Friday.
But it was McKenzie, a 17-year-old home-schooler who gave up football to become one of the top age-group weightlifters in the country, who stole the show by smashing state meet records. He made all nine of his attempts to run away with both the Olympic and Traditional-style state titles.
“I hit the exact numbers that I wanted to hit. This whole week I had a good feeling about it,” McKenzie said. “God helped me. I prayed a lot. He helped me all the way.”
McKenzie opened his Olympic bid by making a 285-pound lift, then succeeded at 300 pounds to break his weight class record. In his third and final allowed attempt, he hoisted 315 pounds — the best for all three classifications (1A-3A) and all weight classes. The previous record was 305.
In the second Olympic phase, the clean and jerk, McKenzie also went 3-for-3, peaking with a 370 best for a 685 total that set another record for all classifications. He finished 25 pounds ahead of runner-up Roan Strom of Navarre.
McKenzie was even more ahead of the pack in the Traditional style, which couples each lifter’s best bench press with their clean-and-jerk mark. McKenzie benched 405 pounds — after making 355 and 380 — for a massive 775 total. That was 75 pounds heavier than Strom’s 700 total.
“He’s a focused young man. He really put in the work,” DeLand coach Damion Dunn said. “He took second place last year and that kind of lit fuel to the fire. I think he really locked in on the sport itself after he stepped away from football.”
Peyton McKenzie, a home-schooler representing DeLand High, won two FHSAA state titles and broke two state records (Richard Pope/Orlando Sentinel).
McKenzie was a promising linebacker and Five Star Conference champion weightlifter for Orange City University as a sophomore. After a coaching change, he transferred to Lake Mary for his junior season and was ready to play for a Rams team that ended up winning the Class 7A state championship.
“He had an injury in the summer and couldn’t play football for Lake Mary,” said Logan McKenzie, Peyton’s father. “He’s made weightlifting his priority.”
He was cleared by Volusia County Public Schools for a sports-only variance to lift for DeLand and was unbeaten for the season.
Peyton is scheduled to go to Colorado Springs in June for a USA Weightlifting national championship meet.
“I want to break American (16-17 age group) records this year,” he said.
Ewing totaled 655 to win the 183-pound weight class and lead Boone to an area-best fifth place finish in the Traditional version. The Braves had three top six scorers, with Zion Cannon placing third in the 215 weight class with a 715 total and Ryan Coughlin fifth at 238 with a 645 total. Pace of the Panhandle won the team title with 29 points.
Thompson, a state runner-up last season, was the 2A Olympic-style winner at 199 pounds with a 615 total. He nearly added the Traditional gold medal, matching the winning 645 total by Sebring’s Zechariah Taylor. The tiebreaker is body weight and Taylor weighed in at 192.6 while Thompson hit the scale at 195.1.
Priester, a TFA football player, totaled 545 to win the Olympic-style 238-pound weight class title.
Leesburg three-peats with FHSAA 2A boys weightlifting championship
Gage Anderson and Colton Durham had third-place Olympic finishes for Leesburg, which scored 16 Olympic points to finish second behind 2A champ South Sumter (28).
East River junior Caleb Land was a 3A runner-up in both styles in the 139 weight class. He totaled 555 in Traditional and 490 in Olympic. Other 3A Olympic state runner-ups were Timber Creek’s Jacob Melendez with a 555 total at 183, and Lake Howell’s Luis Felix with a 590 total in the heavyweight division.
Second-place finishes in 3A Traditional were earned by Lake Buena Vista’s James Yauger with a 650 total that was just five pounds behind Ewing at 183; Lake Brantley’s Morris Bygrave with a 660 at 199; and West Orange’s Luca Bruno with a 590 in the 154 weight class.
Mount Dora’s Hayes O’Hara was the 2A Olympic runner-up in the 183-pound weight class with a 580 total. He was fourth in Traditional (650).
Oviedo’s Jimmy Godwin, St. Cloud’s Jayden Alemany and West Orange’s Joseph Caputo had third-place showings.
St. Cloud was the top 3A Olympic team with 8 points, just ahead of DeLand, East River and Lake Howell — all with 7 points.
West Orange weightlifter Luca Bruno was a state runner-up. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.