ST. CLOUD, Fla. — St. Cloud’s Mikey Ziss is a 2024 state champion in boys weightlifting, but the season isn’t over for him.

The junior is still in the gym looking to improve because of the worldwide opportunities that wait for him. State champions train all their lives to achieve that level of greatness, but Ziss is new to the sport.

"Freshman year, I came in and I really didn’t have a sport in mind or anything," said Ziss. "My coach, Corey Aun, just pulled me in here and told me to give it a try, and I’m always open to things and I took it from there."

The junior has quickly become one of the best in the nation at the high school level. He has compiled a lot on his resume in the last two years. You can see it all over the record board in the St. Cloud gym.

"I won states my sophomore year. I won it this year, I won both the classifications, Olympic and traditional. I went to Nationals and I broke an American record," he said. "I went to American Open and won that, which qualified me the world’s teams. So I’m going to World’s in May in Peru."

He’s also traveled all over U.S. for weightlifting events, which is bit of a surprise to Ziss considering what he knew about the sport entering his freshman year.

"I didn’t even know about the sport before high school," said Ziss. 

He has traveled to Colorado, North Carolina and Georgia for weightlifting competitions.

"All these places I have been to, just to have the opportunities to go tot these places, has been amazing since I haven’t been to these places before," he said. "If I didn’t know about the sport, I wouldn’t have gone."

When training for weightlifting competitions, it's not only how much weight you can lift but also using the proper form and technique. That is something he focuses on during practice.

"It’s definitely the most important thing, I say. It’s such a technical sport," Ziss said. "Being able to lift effectively with the bar is probably the most important thing."

Despite his short time in this sport, he has learned that anyone can succeed if you put the work in.

"It’s exciting, never thought I would get to this point really," he said. "Coming in freshman year, and never thought I would be representing my team, team USA."