LAKELAND — The motto of a Choctawhatchee High boys weightlifter doesn't care about egos.
"Focus on the process and not the prize," Big Green head coach Addison Kendrick tells his lifters, his message centered on controlling what you can control, not worrying about any competitors and hitting your lifts.
The rest will take care of itself.
On Friday in the 2A Boys Weightlifting State Championships, Dawson Newnam hit his lifts into the record books. Brandon Stenger too. On a day when Choctaw made 12 podium visits and won three individual golds, the Big Green cruised to a third straight state title in the traditional category over runner-up Fort Walton Beach and finished runner-up in the Olympic category.
That makes six team state titles in 11 years under Kendrick and the second Big Green dynasty, the first coming from 2015-2017.
"I knew the competition was going to be tough with Suwanee moving down and Leesburg being so good in Olympic," Kendrick said. "The kids for the most part did a good job and they pulled though."
The face of the title was Newnam, a 169-pound senior fueled by last year's runner-up finish in the traditional competition and fourth-place showing in Olympic. Come Friday there'd be no chasing. He was in a class of his own.
Starting the day with the snatch, the 17-year-old set the tone with a state-record 265-pound lift to break the previous record by five pounds.
"That's basically what paved the road for the day I had," he said.
What followed was a statement 310-pound clean and jerk to win Olympic gold by a 25-pound margin and a 310-pound bench press to win the traditional portion by a 15-pound margin.
"Dawson, he was just locked in. He was totally focused on lifts," Kendrick said.
Credit a work ethic that Kendrick described as Newnam being a self-starter. And Credit his mom — in attendance with Newnam's dad, grandma and girlfriend — for feeding her son a protein-heavy diet of lean beef, steak, chicken and salads with homemade ranch for the last four months. No cheat meals.
"I'm ready for the dirty bulk," quipped Newnam, who is looking forward to indulging in Chipotle and and "probably putting on 20 pounds" in the immediate future.
As for his future beyond Choctaw, Newnam is current dual-enrolled in Okaloosa Technical College specializing in the Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning/Refrigeration program. Weightlifting will remain a part of his life, but only recreationally.
Also setting a state record Friday was teammate Brandon Stenger, who missed last year's state championship because of a broken hand. Fueled by that redemption narrative, the senior snatched 300 pounds to shatter the old state record of 270 pounds (Niceville's Connor Mathews would break that the next day with a 305-pound total in 3A). That paved ...
