February 18, 2025
East Ridge High Freshman Molly O’Hara Medals At FHSAA Weightlifting State Championships
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By Kyle Coppola
East Ridge High Freshman Molly O’Hara Medals At FHSAA Weightlifting State Championships
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CLERMONT, Fla. — Molly O’Hara wasted no time making her mark on the high school weightlifting scene. The East Ridge High School freshman turned heads at the FHSAA Class 3A State Weightlifting Championships, earning two medals with top-five finishes in both Olympic and Traditional weightlifting.
O’Hara showcased her strength as she has all season by placing fourth in Olympic weightlifting and fifth in Traditional weightlifting. In the Traditional category, she lifted an impressive 315 pounds to secure her fifth-place finish, just 20 pounds shy of state champion Adia Tomlinson of Sunlake (Land O’Lakes), who won the title with a 335-pound total.
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(Molly is only a freshman. She has proven to everyone that she will be a contender in the coming years.)
Her Olympic weightlifting performance was even better. O’Hara’s total 305lbs which was only 25 pounds behind Tomlinson’s winning mark. O’Hara edged out Lili Portillo of Pace High School and Leila Ricks of Buchholz by five pounds to claim fourth place.
The achievement is even more significant considering O’Hara is only a freshman. Athleticism runs deep in her family. Her mother was a collegiate softball player, her father was a weightlifter and football player, and her grandfather, Bud O’Hara, was one of East Ridge High School’s first football coaches when the school opened in 2002.
“My grandfather is in the East Ridge High School Sports Hall of Fame,” O’Hara said. “Representing ERHS is a blessing for me. I am excited to carry on the O’Hara legacy.”
Beyond the weight room, O’Hara is excelling academically with a 4.5 GPA and a perfect record of straight A’s.
We are very excited to watch Molly O’Hara continue to deveolp over the next few years. Congratulations to Molly O’Hara!
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.