Kayla Palmberg's Outing Lifts Her Hopes

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Hardbodies News 13 January, 2009 01:28:00

Lake Worth's Kayla Palmberg, above, lifts 95 pounds in the clean and jerk en route to a second place finish in the 129-pound division in a match on Thursday at Boca Raton High School.

Kayla Palmberg's efforts helped the Boca Raton High School Trojans win the women's weightlifting competition over four other Palm Beach Schools. Florida is becoming a national leader in opportunities for female high school weightlifters.

January 13, 2009

Lake Worth's Kayla Palmberg hopes to go from her father's garage to the state girls' weightlifting tournament.

The 123-pound senior placed second in the conference meet Thursday.

Lake Worth edged runner-up Boynton Beach 67-58. Santaluces was third with 13 points, and Atlantic and Spanish River finished with 11 and two points, respectively.

Pine Crest, the lone Broward County school to offer the sport, also competed and defeated all five Palm Beach schools, but it was excluded from the conference scoring. Pine Crest (21-0) will compete with the other Palm Beach Schools in the FHSAA Sectional 9 meet on Jan. 31 at Palm Beach Central High School.

"I have been lifting since the seventh grade, but this is my first year lifting for the school," said Palmberg, who lifted 205 total pounds in the 129-pound division in the conference meet. "I want to go to states, so I decided to come out this year. My dad [Brian] has a bunch of equipment in our garage, and we do our workouts in there.

"It is very, very important to go to state," added Palmberg, who also plays soccer and runs track. "It is all really mental."

Palmberg doesn't mind the stigma that comes with girls' weightlifting.

"I don't mind it because everyone calls me an animal," Palmberg said with a laugh. "It doesn't bother me at all because I am very, very competitive. Last meet I was so mad at myself I was shaking. I know I can do better."

Santaluces junior Emily Simpson started lifting weights when she was a freshman and her sister, Rebecca, was a senior. Simpson won the 129-pound division with a 215-pound total. There are just three girls on the Santaluces team.

"It is kind of disappointing that some of these teams have so many people, and we can't even get a full team, but I think having so few people gives us more attention with the coach," Simpson said. "We have a really strong bond with her now and we support each other."

Milaine Jean-Paul is the first girl at Boynton Beach who has weightlifted all four years. She is a two-time state qualifier and hopes to qualify again this year. She won the 199-pound division with a 245-pound total.

"I just love the adrenaline," Jean-Paul said. "You just psyche yourself up and when you lift the weight, you feel good. I want to go back to state real bad. It's my last year, and I want to be one of the best."

Source: Florida Sun Sentinel

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