Baker has now gone undefeated 14-consecutive years in regular season matches. The Gators have won six straight district championships and sent numerous lifters to state.
“I think they just carried on the tradition,” Valmus said of his team. “We had nine seniors and to stay lifting their senior year and finish up strong, is evidence of the Baker character and the Baker mentality. They want to compete against the best, and they usually perform their best on the biggest stages.
“I think you’ll find that most schools won’t have the turnout we did with nine guys coming back for their senior year.”
Baker had eight lifters qualify for state. Twenty-five of the 53 members on the team were in middle school.
Layne Brewer listens as coach Andy Valmus reads off the list of his accomplishments in weightlifting this season.
Valmus said the 2024 Gators might be the team that cared for and supported each other better than any of his previous teams, and that’s what he’ll remember most about the group.
“I’ll just remember the time they took with others, with the other lifters,” he said. “They put others before themselves. They’re willing to help and go above and beyond to make sure that the Gator name gets carried on.
“They (the upper classmen) knew the future of the team is with the middle schoolers. They really helped them along to be their best.”
No lifter exemplified that spirit more than Leroy Pierce. Pierce, who battled injuries throughout the season, still had time to help coach his teammates even when he might be hurting.
The Gators did win a double championship in both the Olympic and Traditional lifts. Unfortunately for the homestanding Baker Gators, it was the Wewahitchka Gators taking both championships.
Baker finished second in the Traditional competition with 26 points and tied for fifth with 17 points in the Olympic competition.
Baker did have the highest finish in both disciplines of schools from Walton County and west. The Gators also finished ahead of Walton, Catholic, Bay, Rutherford, Marianna and other schools that are in higher classifications in sports other than weightlifting.
Layne Brewer was the top Baker lifter taking second place in the traditional 183-pound class. He actually tied for the highest lift total in the Traditional, but in the case of a tie, the lighter lifter wins the tiebreaker, which went to Chipley’s Price Brodie. Leroy Pierce had two second place finishes in the 239-pound class.
Joseph Blackshear also had two seconds in the 199-pound class.
Jonathon Lindros (219) and Jeremy Fredericks (unlimited) finished third in the Traditional. The other medalists for Baker in the Traditional were Beau Brackin, fifth place 183 and Iagan Foss, sixth place 169.
Baker’s other Olympic medalists were Lindros, fourth place at 219, Fredericks, fourth place unlimited, Tyson McBride, fifth place and Jacob Beckworth, sixth place at 154.
Only the region champions are assured of qualifying for the state championship. The other lifters will be ranked by how the compare to lifters in the other regions before they will know if they qualified.
Baker coach Andy Valmus said he was proud of the team.
“Our guys have always stepped up to challenges,” he said. They made the most of today. I’m excited for the guys and I hope we will have some guys go to the state meet.
“The attitude of our guys and their hard work showed. I think having the big meet (The Baker Oliver Nursery Invitational with Pace, Navarre, Crestview and other big schools) at the first of the year prepared us for this. Our guys always shine on the brightest stages.”
Led by double wins from Tyson McBride (154), Lane Cato (183), Joseph Blackshear (199) and Leroy Pierce (238) the Gators claimed both the Olympic and Traditional titles at the meet.
Baker won the Olympic competition with 81 points. Jay finished second with 48 points, Catholic had 21 points, Northview 15 and Central 12.
Lane Cato completes a lift in the clean and jerk. Cato was a double winner in the 189-weight class.
The order of finish was the same in the traditional, though the scores were slightly different as Baker claimed the title with 82 points. Jay was second with 41 and Catholic third with 37 points. Northview and Central finished with 22 and eight points, respectively.
The Gators opened the season hosting the Baker Invitational against big school powers like Pace Navarre and Milton.
Leroy Pierce cleans the weight to chest height in the clean and jerk.
Gator coach Andy Valmus said the team used that meet to set the bar for the rest of the season and the goal of the district championship.
“I think the guys take pride in winning it,” Valmus said. “They didn’t back down from the challenge of the big schools. They wanted to see where they are against some of the best guys in the state. They used that to work to the district championship we won here. That was one of the goals for this team.”
Baker also had champions in the Olympic unlimited division, with Jeremy Frederick claiming the crown, in traditional in the 219 lbs. class with Jonathon Lindros.
District champions are assured a spot in the regional. The remainder of the spots to qualify for region will be taken from the top non-winners across the four districts in the region.
Baker’s boys weightlifting team celebrates their sixth-straight district title.
The Gators will host the Region 1-1A meet April 6, starting at 10 a.m.
Baker won the Olympic competition, which is a combination of snatch, clean and jerk with 81 points. Jay finished second with 48 points, Catholic had 21 points, Northview 15 and Central 12.
The order of finish was the same in the Traditional, which is the clean and jerk and bench press, the scores were slightly different though. 1. Baker 82, 2. Jay 41, 3. Catholic 37, 4. Northview 22, 5. Central 8.
The Gators opened the season hosting the Oliver Nursery/Baker Invitational against big school powers Pace and Navarre, just to name two. Gator coach Andy Valmus said the team used that meet to set the bar for the rest of the season and the goal of the district championship.
“I think the guys take pride in winning it,” Valmus said. “They didn’t back down from the challenge of the big schools at the Oliver Nursery. They wanted to see where they are against some of the best guys in the state.
“They used that to work to the district championship we won here. That was one of the goals for this team.”
Baker also had champions in the Olympic unlimited in Jeremy Frederick and the Traditional at the 219-pound class with Jonathon Lindros.
All the district champions qualified for region. The remainder of the spots to qualify for region will be taken from the top non-winners across the four districts in the region.
The Gators will host the Region 1-1A meet on Saturday, April 6. The meet will start at 10 a.m.
In Olympic, Braxton Ratcliff had the best finish, taking third in the 183 lbs. weight class with a 485 lbs. total.
Eli Anglin placed sixth in the 169 lbs. weight class with a 435 total.
The same two lifters placed in the top 10 in the traditional competition. Ratcliff was sixth with a total lift of 505 lbs. Anglin was also sixth as he recorded a total lift of 500 lbs.
Lifters competed in both the Olympic and Traditional events. Medals and team trophies were awarded in each event. Pace swept the team titles. Choctaw finished second in the Olympic competition, which is the snatch, and Milton third.
Milton finished second in the Traditional and Choctaw third.
Baker, the smallest school in the meet, took seventh in the Traditional and eighth in the Olympic event. The Gators were led by senior Leroy Pierce. Pierce was the highest medal winner from Baker and Crestview taking second in the 238-pound class in the Traditional and third in the Olympic.
Crestview finished ninth in both events behind the lifting of 169 pounder Eli Anglin.
“It was really some of the best lifters in the state of Florida today at Baker,” Gator coach Andy Valmus said. “The Gators I have always been around have not backed down from a challenge. They want to compete.
“They want to compete on the biggest stages. This is one of the biggest stages in Northwest Florida in weightlifting.”
Anglin finished fourth in the Olympic lift and sixth in the Traditional competition which is two lifts, the clean and jerk and the bench press. Braxton Ratcliffe was the only other Bulldog to place in the top six finishing fifth in the 183-pound class of the Olympic.
Pierce was Baker’s only medalist in the Olympic. The Gators did have four other lifters place in the Traditional. Cameron Lawson took fifth in the 119 division, Lane Brewer was fourth in the 183 class, Joseph Blackshear fifth in the 199 and Jonathon Lindros sixth in the 238 division.
Manny Lugo, the first-year Crestview coach, was pleased with what he saw from the Bulldogs.
“Our boys had a good experience and did extremely well,” he said. “We have a big group of freshmen just starting and they did well. They hit all of their lifts.
“Eli Anglin was our top finisher. I saw some very strong boys and I thought Eli was able to stand out. I think his confidence is going to be way up going into districts.”
For the seventh-straight year, which is as long as small schools have competed separately from large schools, the Lady Gators are district champs.
Not only did they win the traditional category for the seventh-straight year, the Lady Gators doubled up on titles with the Olympic title. The Lady Gators have won the district title in the Olympic lift since it was introduced in 2022.
Baker did indeed dominate the meet, winning the Traditional with 96 points. Second-place Freeport was a distant 60 points behind with 36 points.
The Lady Gators claimed individual titles in eight of the 10 weight categories.
Baker wasn’t as dominant in the Olympic lift, but the Lady Gators still had plenty of breathing room over Freeport outscoring the second-place Lady Bulldogs 89-46. Six Lady Gators won Olympic lift championships.
Michayla Rose, Peyton Clinkingbeard and Hayden Grace had double championships.
Rose won competing at 154, Clinkingbeard at 183 and Grace in the unlimited class.
Lady Gator coach David Oglesby has a simple explanation to his team’s continued success.
“It says the love to win,” he said. “They come out and work hard. Noone outworks Baker.”
Karley Barton won took the Olympic title in the 139-pound class, A senior, Barton was proud to be walking out of her home gym a champion.
“It’s very exciting,” she said. “It was very nerve wracking at first but when I first got my lift in, I was OK. It was just a matter of putting the work in and going to practice every day to get better.
In addition to Rose, Clinkingbread, Grace and Bishop, Adhaline Burks (101) and Victoria Beckworth (129) won Olympic lift titles.
The other Lady Gators to win their weight class in the Traditional category are Rylee Daugherty (101), Emily Whiddon (110), Audrey Plunkett (129), Justyce Johns (169) and Ashley Varnum (199).
In addition to the 14 district champions the Lady Gators had nine finish in second, six in third, two in fourth, four in fifth and two in sixth.
The 14 champions automatically qualify for the region meet. The other region qualifiers will be determined on how they place in the region once all the district meets are completed.
Glenn’s championship was the first for Baker in several years.
Days after winning the state title Glenn was already thinking about next year.
“I guess it’s (winning the championship) cool,” he said. “But I’m just concentrating on next year. I won the snatch and finished second in the traditional.”
“I won the snatch on my first lift of 160 pounds, but my best lift is 175.”
Glenn said he perfected his technique in the snatch during his lunch periods.
“I knew long before they put it out (lifters would be competing in the snatch) so I got an early start working at it,” he said. “I took all my days from lunch and came out here (to the weight room) and started working on it.
“I worked on my snatch form. I did that every day working up to state.”
In an effort to build more lean muscle mass and power, Glenn skipped the food served in the Baker cafeteria and brought meals filled with protein from home.
Glenn started lifting in the eighth grade when coach Andy Valmus had a spot to fill at the district meet. Glenn finished second at the meet and has been hooked ever since.
Valmus wasn’t surprised by Glenn’s, pardon the pun, strong showing.
“Carter had a great season and was very disciplined in watching his weight,” Valmus said. “I’m very proud of him as I am all of the guys. We always thought Carter was going to be a good lifter.
“He works hard in the weight room like all the Gators do. He reminds me of the Gator way. They take pride in what they do in upholding the Gator name.”
Joining Glenn as medalists at state were Jackson Parker fourth in traditional in 238-pound class; Ethan Eidson, fifth in the snatch at 238; Ryan Fleming, sixth in snatch at 189 and Randy Godwin, sixth in snatch at 199.
“It was amazing to watch the guys,” Valmus said. “I say it all the time, the guys here are faithful, hardworking, unselfish. They believe in what we do.
The Gators have outscored their opponents 3,548 to 1,001 during the streak, which has lasted for 13 years.
Baker also claimed a fifth-consecutive District 1-1A championship and finished second in the region.
“I’m very proud of the guys and the entire team with the way they conducted themselves and handled themselves,” said coach Andy Valmus. “They worked hard. “Their parents have done a great job of raising the young men. They are going to be great members of society.”
Baker being a K-12 school allows middle school athletes to compete in high school varsity sports.
One of the best memories Valmus will take from the 2023 season is the way the older members of the team took responsibility to help the younger guys.
“We had 15 middle schoolers come out and older guys — some of the juniors and seniors — they took time before their workout, in the middle of their workout and at the end of their workout to help those (middle school) lifters improve in their technique and form,” he said. “I thought that was really special.”
The seniors on this year’s team showed what they were made of overcoming some hardships, but they responded as Valmus expected Baker athletes to respond.
Ethan Eidson shows off his senior weightlifting trophy at the Baker weightlifting banquet.
“Our seniors had their share of adversity this year and they responded like champions,” he said. “They will always carry the title of district champions. I think they will do well in life because of the way they have responded to adversity and the way they have worked extremely hard.”
Carter Glenn is one of those seniors and is the most accomplished boys weightlifter in Baker history. Glenn scored a school-record 205 points and was a four-time champion in the district and region. After the banquet he tried to soak everything in at his last official event as a Gator athlete.
“I’m just excited to have been under coach Valmus,” Glenn said. “He’s really the best coach I could ever ask for. Weightlifting got me into the school experience and made me really love Baker.
“Weightlifting really gave me the discipline I needed to put my education forward because I needed something, that extra drive, to want to do well in school,” he added. “I’m just not that kid with the schoolbooks.”
As is the case with most of the members of the weightlifting team, Glenn competed in other sports at Baker, playing football and competing in the throwing events on the track and field team.
Glenn credits weightlifting with helping him with the other sports.
“Weightlifting gave me a certain explosiveness I never saw before with football and with track,” he said. “Moving weights, the way I do, you find a certain explosiveness.”
A young man of deep faith, Glenn said he could never have imagined all he accomplished at Baker.
“All I can say is, ‘Thank God,’” he said. “With this team you have the absolute brotherhood you get from being in the Baker program. It has given me more love than I could ask for from anybody.”
