WINDERMERE, Fla. — As the school year comes to an end, it also marks the end of the high school spring sports season, which means state championships are being won. For Windermere High’s Andres Giron, winning a state championship in boys weightlifting wasn’t a goal at the beginning of the season.

"I knew I was going to be making states as I made it last year, but I couldn’t lift as much weight as I needed to," Giron said. "My goal was to qualify and maybe get fifth place, but as I started to get into the flow of things and gaining more weight and more strength, I was able to post the weight I needed to to win."

At 169 pounds, Giron won the Class 3A boys weigthlifting championship as a sophomore, the second person to win a state championship at Windermere in boys weightlifting.

"In order to get on that platform to be a state champ, you have to become a master of the clean and jerk," coach Eric Olson said. "You have to get a handle and feel of that weight. Brute strength doesn’t do it anymore once you get to that point."

In the course of two years since he has been competitively weightlifting, he has improved his max rep by 250 pounds on the clean and jerk.

"Clean and jerk was kind of the deciding factor. I already had a solid base for bench," Giron said. "In the beginning of the season, I think (I was) benching 295, 300, but I was only clean-and-jerking 245, 250, and my clean and jerk skyrocketed. It went up to 300 by the time I hit states."

Olson added, "He was throwing 300 pounds over his head at 169 pounds, which is absolutely phenomenal. Two years left, so you will be hearing a lot from Andres in the future."

Giron is scheduled to compete at the Team USA national youth championships in Las Vegas at the end of June.