Wellington The Magazine-August 2016
Wellington Weightlifting Teammates Capture Individual State Crowns
By Jason Stromberg
There’s a banner in the Wellington High School gymnasium with the names of Chloe Odom and LeeAnn Hewitt on it. The banner lists Odom and Hewitt as state champions in girls weightlifting. It’s a history-making banner that puts the Wolverines’ girls weightlifting program in elite company.
Earlier this year in Kissimmee, Odom and Hewitt became the first state champs in girls weightlifting in Palm Beach County School District history.
“It’s a great honor to coach two girls to that feat,” Wellington High School coach Peter Callovi said. “We got lucky with two girls who are very talented and hard-working. For Chloe, she had been a state runner-up the year before. There was an extra push there to win a state title.”
High school girls weightlifting features the bench press and clean and jerk events. Practice starts in October, with the state championship taking place the first weekend in February. As a team, Wellington placed fourth at the state meet.
Odom competed in the 139-pound weight class, winning the individual state championship with a 205-pound lift on the bench and a 175-pound clean and jerk lift. In her two previous seasons weightlifting at the high school level, she competed in the 154-pound weight class.
“The 154-pound weight class was too competitive. I knew I wasn’t going to put up as much weight as I needed to in order to win the title, so that’s why I dropped the weight,” Odom said. “This year, I felt more comfortable at 139 because getting first place was more in my reach. I felt like it would be a little less of a struggle to get to the weight that I had to bench press and clean and jerk.”
In her first year at the statewide event, she placed 12th. That shows how much Odom has improved over the past three years. The WHS senior went out on an incredibly high note.
“I was crying, kind of overwhelmed,” Odom said after claiming the 139-pound individual state crown. “I knew I had it. I already knew what everybody else’s scores were because they have the board that sits there with all the scores on it. It was pure elation for me.”
Hewitt had that same emotion after her scores were reported. Competing in the unlimited weight class, Hewitt bench-pressed 255 pounds and lifted 230 pounds in the clean and jerk. With a 485-point total, Hewitt broke the tie-breaker with Desire Davis of Orlando’s Evans High School, who clean-and-jerked 205 pounds and bench-pressed 280 pounds. The tie-breaker was broken because Hewitt weighed less than Davis.
Each student-athlete competing at the state meet was required to bench-press and clean-and-jerk one time in three attempts. The best lift is kept for the official scoring.
“I was definitely overjoyed. It was nice to finally win,” Hewitt said. “You put in the effort all the time, all the energy, the blood, the sweat and the tears. It was nice to see that all come together, to get rewarded, and place first. That was definitely something special.”
It was a nice way for Hewitt to cap her junior season. Yet, that doesn’t mean her time lifting in the gym is complete. Hewitt trains and competes in powerlifting during the off-season. She has competed in the Powerlifting World Championships as part of the USA World Team. She also set some records in this year’s International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Classic Powerlifting Championships in Texas.
In the IPF event, Hewitt squatted 575 pounds, which is a sub-junior and junior world record. On the bench, she lifted 253 pounds, a sub-junior and junior world record. In the dead lift, she put up 524 pounds, a sub-junior, junior and open world record. The total amount powerlifted by Hewitt was 1,356.9 pounds.
“She’s a well-rounded lifter,” Callovi said. “She works incredibly hard. She’s good at it. She enjoys pursuing it. And the best news is, I have her for one more year.”
Last year, Hewitt placed fifth at the state event. Like her co-captain teammate, Hewitt rose to the top.
“The key to winning was I trained exceptionally harder. I just had that fire, that hunger to bring home the gold,” she said. “I started doing powerlifting right after my sophomore performance at state. I wanted to start competing outside of school. That allowed me to maximize my strength. I don’t have an offseason. I powerlift and weightlift all the time. It can get intense at times. I’m always training for different competitions all over the world.”
At 4-foot-11, Odom feels more comfortable on the bench.
“It’s probably easier for me to do the bench press, as opposed to the clean and jerk, because my arms are shorter than most other girls my age,” Odom said. “I feel more confident when I do it.”
It’s a tough decision for Hewitt. “It’s a toss-up for me because the bench, I feel like it’s less technical and easier to train in,” Hewitt said. “But then, clean and jerk involves a lot of finesse, and the motion itself is beautiful.”
You can’t argue with Callovi when he said that Odom and Hewitt are team leaders and role models on how to work hard in this unique sport. Odom is going to weightlift for fun as she heads off to Barry University. Hewitt said “there is no stopping me now” as she tries to win back-to-back individual state titles.
For now, the two are going to continue enjoying this season’s feat. “I’m so proud to say that I accomplished something that important,” Odom said.
Hewitt feels the same. “I’m still so happy that we could bring home the state title for the first time,” she said. “It’s an honor.”
