Senior Giany Ruiz has been weightlifting for the past three years. She was drawn to weightlifting because she “…wanted to do a sport that was a team sport but also works as an individual sport as well.” Weightlifting is just that, where you can lift with teammates at practice and cheer for each other at meets, but also strive to accomplish individual goals. She said that “…being on the team is a great feeling. Every one there is there to support each other and help each other improve and become better lifters.” When asked what she loves about weightlifting, Giany explained, “being as competitive as I am, I love the adrenaline, the competition, and the feeling of improving.”

On December 8th, Sunlake competed in a meet at River Ridge High School. Giany always feels “…a little nervous when going to big meets like River Ridge with all the competition that’s there.” A lot of good teams showed up to River Ridge to compete, making it a high stakes meet. Giany was still ready to give it her all. It can be a little nerve racking when it’s your time to lift, and Giany said that, “Before my turn to lift, I was just trying to get myself mentally ready.” When it was her turn, she said, “There were many challenges I had to face during the meet. There were lots of people everywhere, and I needed to hit a certain weight I needed to lift.” Even with all the people around and the pressure of hitting a certain weight, Giany “…did pretty well. Out of sixty girls I got 6th place with a traditional score of 330.” As an athlete who’s always looking to improve, Giany shared, “I felt like I could have gotten a better traditional score.” With more meets to come, she definitely can. Giany was also really proud of her team, as she declared, “Our team did really well in this competition against really good schools.”  Giany’s “…goal for the future for weightlifting is to just improve and become a better version of myself.” She’s excited for the remaining meets of the season.