January 31, 2025
South Sumter High’s Gabe Sabilona Leads Boys Weightlifting Team To Victory
By Kyle Coppola
South Sumter High’s Gabe Sabilona Leads Boys Weightlifting Team To Victory
THE VILLAGES, Fla. — South Sumter High School’s boys weightlifting team delivered a dominant performance at The Villages meet, taking home the first-place trophy after outlifting a competitive field.
The Raiders topped Leesburg, Lecanto, Citrus, Umatilla, Wildwood, Lake Minneola, and host The Villages to secure the victory. Head coach Chris Gauntlett credited his team’s depth and resilience for the win.
“We had two first-place lifters, and it was Gabe Sabilona’s very first meet—he won the 199-pound class against great competition,” Gauntlett said. “Filipe Alanis also won his class at 154 pounds. The Villages combined all three lifts—snatch, clean and jerk, and pause press—for a super score. I wasn’t really sure how this meet would go, but we had 18 of our 20 lifters place in the top six, which gave us the opportunity to pull out the win.”
The victory was a promising sign for South Sumter, which is looking to reload after losing several key seniors from last season’s state runner-up team.
“We have a good group of guys returning this year,” Gauntlett said.
South Sumter head football coach and assistant weightlifting coach Ty Lawrence noted that the success extended beyond the boys’ squad.
(South Sumter High’s Girls Weightlifting Team won the FHSAA Regionals and now head to States.)
“Not only did our boys win the meet, but our girls team won the FHSAA Regional Finals,” Lawrence said. “It’s a great week for South Sumter High.”
The Raiders now look ahead to their next challenge while the girls team prepare for the FHSAA State Finals.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
