Lady Eagles overcome obstacles

What do you do when you're short-handed and the Central Bears are in the house?
F.W. Springstead simply knuckled down with who it had. That turned out to be enough.
The three-time defending county champion Lady Eagles claimed 9-of-10 first-place finishes Wednesday evening to remain unbeaten in the young weightlifting season with a 59-30 nod over winless Central High (3-0).
How'd SHS Head Coach Mike Garofano see the meet?
"I'm very pleased with how our girls stepped up," indicated the two-time defending Hernando County Coach of the Year. "We had six girls on the shelf today due to illness and assorted injuries.
"Girls like Morgan (Szymanski), Kaley (Craig), Stephanie (Jeffords) and Marissa (Welch), who will be the future of this program, stepped up and performed," said Garofano. "And girls like Jen (Dragonchuk), Olivia (D'Acunto), Jennifer (Rosino) and Andreanna (Marks) have been working their butts off. You can see the improvement each week.
"Right now, we're a little banged up," added Garofano. "It concerns me as we go into Monday's (quad) match at River Ridge. It's gonna be tough there. But meets like this will only help us to prepare for the kind of competition they'll see at states."

Multiple winners

For the second straight week, SHS (2-0) enjoyed first-place efforts by Stephanie Jeffords at 119 pounds, Jennifer Dragonchuk at 139, Olivia D'Acunto at 169, Andreanna Marks at 183 and Jennifer Rosino at 199.
Rosino misfired on her final clean-and-jerk attempt denying her a personal-best 320-pound total. Instead, she settled on a meet-best 170-pound bench press and a 140-pound clean-and-jerk.
Last week, Rosino totaled a meet-high 315 pounds.
Another week two winner was Jeffords, who topped Central's Carissa Maynard by 30 pounds, 220-190. The first-year varsity lifter fell five pounds short of her 225-pound total in week one's win over NCT.
"I'm partially satisfied with two wins in two weeks," explained the 16-year-old Jeffords. "I know I need to improve on my cleans; it's a little weak right now. It's really not explosive enough."
What's Jeffords' goal in next Monday's pivotal four-way test at River Ridge?
"I'm shooting for a 235 total," smiled Jeffords. "I want to get at least 120 on my bench and a 115 in my cleans."
Dragonchuk, who hoisted 270 pounds last week, improved significantly behind a 140-145-285 total.
What's been the difference in Dragonchuk's approach this season?
"I've practically lived in the weight room since last year; even in the summer I was here," described the 18-year-old Dragonchuk, who finished third in the county at 129 pounds last winter. "It's my senior year. All the seniors want to make states "
Like Dragonchuk, Marks also improved 15 pounds.
Marks defeated her closest rival, teammate Andrea Nicoll, by almost 100 pounds, 260-165.
Marks believes she's beginning to reap the benefits of all the off-season efforts she's put in.
"I've been in this weight room I don't know how long," declared Marks. "I'm ecstatic to go up 15 pounds in a week. That's great. It's weird because I had so many other things to do this past week, I didn't practice as much as I could have. I prayed and prayed I'd do well today."
What about Monday's quad meet?
"I have no words to describe it," Marks countered. "I know it'll be tough. We're really going hard in practice for that meet."
First-time Eagle winners included Julia Monzo at 101, Kaley Craig at 129, Morgan Szymanski at 154 and Farley Barnett at heavyweight.
Craig, who finished third last week at 119, went up 10 pounds with a 85-90-175 total to claim her first-ever varsity win.
"I'm very satisfied this week," smiled the 17-year-old Craig. "This was my first-ever win. My cleans helped me for sure. This is huge. And I did it after changing weight classes. It (win) tastes fabulous."

Central highlight

The Bears' highlight belonged to senior Stephanie Lukawski at 110 pounds. Lukawaki earned her first-ever win by topping Springstead's Caitlin Cotroneo, 175-155.
"My cleans were very good today," offered the 17-year-old Lukawski. "I went up five pounds in my bench, but my cleans were the ticket (to success). Winning is great. I could get used to this."
Central senior Kim Forte hoisted the Bears' highest total with a combined 130-120-250 total at 199. Alas, she finished 60 pounds behind Rosino.

Springstead def. Central, 59-30.
(Top three finishers earn points: 5-3-1 basis).
101 - 1. Monzo (SPG) 80-75-155, 2. O'Keefe (CEN) 65-60-125.
110 - 1. Lukawski (CEN) 80-95-175, 2. Cotroneo (SPG) 80-75-155, 3. Borda (CEN) 65-65-130.
119 - 1. Jeffords (SPG) 110-110-220, 2. Maynard (CEN) 95-95-190, 3. Brown (CEN) 80-70-150.
129 - 1. Craig (SPG) 85-90-175, 2. Warren (CEN) 95-70-165, 3. Bellemore (CEN) 85-80-165.
139 - 1. Dragonchuk (SPG) 140-145-285, 2. Alfonso (SPG) 90-95-185, 3. Prentice (CEN) 80-90-170.
154 - 1. Szymanski (SPG) 115-110-225, 2. Zoe Mannino (SPG) 105-115-220, 3. Fleisher (CEN) 90-95-185.
169 - 1. D'Acunto (SPG) 145-110-255, 2. Faulkingham (CEN) 85-90-175, 3. Heckman (SPG) 80-90-170.
183 - 1. Marks (SPG) 135-125-260, 2. Nicoll (SPG) 85-80-165, 3. Beinhauer (CEN) 70-65-135.
199 - 1. Rosino (SPG) 170-140-310, 2. K. Forte (CEN) 130-120-250, 3. K. Morales (CEN) 105-110-215.
UNL - 1. Barnett (SPG) 130-125-255, 2. Stephens (CEN) 125-110-235, 3. K. Brown (SPG) 85-95-180.
Records - Central (0-3 overall), Springstead (2-0 overall).