Hernando High's Joanna Duran Earns Sixth in 183-Pound 2A State Weightlifting

Joanna Duran finished sixth in the traditional division of the Class 2A FHSAA girls weightlifting state meet at RP Funding Center in Lakeland, posting a 345-pound traditional total that tied Choctawhatchee’s Mckinnie Nariyah but prevailed on the tiebreaker after Duran weighed in a little over three pounds less.

Duran’s path to the 345 traditional total included a rocky start on the bench press, where she scratched her opening attempt before completing successful lifts of 150 pounds and 160 pounds. On the clean-and-jerk she hit 175 pounds and 185 pounds, then attempted 195 pounds and scratched on that final attempt, leaving the 185 as her best clean-and-jerk for the traditional total.

In the Olympic division (snatch plus clean-and-jerk), Duran recorded a 290-pound total. She completed snatches of 120 pounds and 130 pounds before scratching at 140 pounds on her final snatch attempt. That 290 tied for the eighth-highest Olympic total but Duran dropped to ninth by tiebreaker; had she completed the 140-pound snatch she would have tied for sixth in Olympic but still would have missed a state medal on the tiebreaker.

Duran described a season turnaround that carried her to the state meet. “It means a lot,” Duran said. “After my first meet I was very discouraged and was not thinking I was going to qualify for state. And then I won districts, I won regionals in Olympic and was runner-up in traditional. So then I was like, ‘Wow, this is actually happening.’ I definitely was not expecting it at the beginning of the season.”

Hernando head coach Mark Griffith framed Duran’s result as both validation and motivation for the program. “I inherited a pretty good lifter, I’m not going to lie,” Griffith said. He added context on the emotional lift medaling gives younger teammates: “As a coach you’re proud for the kids. That’s what it’s about. Seeing them and if it motivates them to even want to do better that’s what it is. A lot of those underclassmen when they do medal they get that little taste in their mouth and they want to do better the next year. And typically they do. [...] That made what the junior accomplished on Thursday that much sweeter. She earned a medal (top six) at the Class 2A FHSAA State Championship meet held at RP Funding Center in Lakeland. Duran finished sixth in traditional (bench press and clean-and-jerk) at 183 pounds.”

After the meet Griffith reviewed the contest strategy and areas for improvement and projected higher placement next season. “… Of course we wish she would have got those PRs. We had her making pretty big jumps at the end just trying to jump up and place. … We were watching the boards the whole time. We were trying to get her just to be in the medal running. I wish it would have worked out a little better in Olympic but she’ll work on her clean-and-jerk, that’s the anchor lift, and we’ll improve on that. I think she’ll be a top three next year.”

Duran’s sixth-place traditional finish and ninth-place Olympic result at the RP Funding Center closes a season that included district and regional titles and sets expectations for Hernando High’s weightlifting program as it develops under Griffith.