Knight hopes his new path leads to title

NEW PORT RICHEY -- The mind was willing. Andrew Hutchison's body was not.

Not that the River Ridge weightlifter could believe it. All those hours spent in the weight room, all the days dedicated to perfecting his musculature, his bench and his clean and jerk went to waste at last year's state meet. Hutchison finished 21st in his weight class.

Only it wasn't really his weight class. He should have been competing at 139 pounds but instead cut weight to slip down to 129. But he lost too much weight and, thus, too much strength.

"He was telling me he was 2, 3 pounds over, so it wouldn't be so bad to cut weight," coach Mike Marlin said. "But he was really going down 4 or 5 pounds. He was thinking, 'I can win at 129.' But he didn't realize if he kept his weight and stayed at 139, he would have been much stronger.

"He could have medaled."

But if it weren't for that experience, then Hutchison would not now be one of the top weightlifters in Pasco County, competing at 154 in today's Class 2A, Section 6 prequalifier for the state meet. "We've got a couple of guys who will probably qualify for state," Marlin said. "But Andrew is on a different level. He should compete for the state title.

"He doesn't miss a workout. If he misses a workout during the week, he picks it up on the weekend. He's the kind of guy that I actually have to kick out of the weight room sometimes. Sometimes, he'll overtrain. But he's doing a better job of that. He's sort of realized that ... you can do too much."

Now doing exactly what he should be, Hutchison won his class at the Sunshine Athletic Conference meet. Neither he nor his coach is even worried about the local competition. Getting to state, if he executes his lifts precisely, isn't even an issue. But the state record is.

The most any athlete has benched at the state meet at 154 is 355 pounds. He equaled that at the SAC meet but must do it again at state to set the record.

That will be his second lift. On his third lift, he hopes to set a state record, between 360-365 pounds.

Now peaking at the right time and with three weeks left until state, Hutchison said he is ready to do what he should have done last year. But he was physically unable to.

"When the time came for state and I was supposed to peak, my body just shut down," Hutchison said. "I got real sick. I just couldn't do anything. I couldn't even eat. (Losing) the weight just hurt me."

Hutchison also learned to trust the training regimen designed by his coach. Hutchison overtrained and didn't give his muscles enough recovery time between workouts.

"If coach tells you to do something, you stick with it," Hutchison said. "Last year, I worked out each body part three days a week.

"Now I do chest and (triceps) two times a week, legs and shoulders two times a week and back and abs one day, and it's working 10 times better."

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