West Boca High School’s boys weightlifting team is ready to hit the weight room for the 2023-2024 season.
Led by head coach Evan Laufer, the Bulls return eight out of 25 weightlifters. “This team is very new to lifting,” Coach Laufer said. “But everyone is hungry to get better every day and you can’t coach that. That’s probably my favorite thing about this team because that is something each individual has to bring themself. As a coach that’s all I can ask for.”
Despite the challenge presented by being inexperienced, Laufer said his expectation is “for the team to go win the district championship with multiple individual district champions, a top three finish at Regionals as team, and 2-3 state qualifiers.”
The opposite of inexperienced, though, is experienced. That’s what senior Yiannis Michalakelis is. Michalakelis got first place in districts last year and finished sixth in the region.
Another star on the weightlifting team is sophomore Xavier Reid, who amassed 70 tackles and 11 sacks this year on the football field. Reid has offers from USF, Marshall, and Bethune Cookman. Now that football is over, Reid has his eyes set on the weightroom.
“My success on the football field translates to weightlifting because I’ve always been taught to win,” Reid said. He also added, “we’re looking to win regionals and place top five in states.”
A little bit about the Bulls weightlifting coach
Coach Laufer is a sports agent and is the president and CEO of Laufer Sports & Entertainment. Laufer, a UCF and Lynn University grad, has many clients, including Auburn basketball player Denver Jones, FSU football player Jarrett Jackson, UCF tennis player Jaleesa Leslie, and Florida Gators volleyball player A.C. Fitzpatrick, among others.
As a student at West Boca from 2008-2012, Laufer played football (cornerback), helping the Bulls win their first ever district championship in 2009. And of course, Laufer was on the weightlifting team. Matter of fact, he started the first ever weightlifting team at West Boca in 2012. Coming off knuckle surgery after the 2012 football season, Laufer placed second at districts and third at regionals.
After graduating college, Laufer came back to West Boca to coach both football and weightlifting. He was the head coach on junior varsity for the first season while also helping coach special teams on varsity. He was then promoted to the varsity coaching staff as the special teams, defensive backs, and the defensive coordinator the next season.
Because of his extensive connections in the sports world, Coach Laufer has already gotten his weightlifting team sponsorships, including shoes from TYR Sport and protein powder from REDCON1. Don’t be surprised if Coach Laufer hooks his team up with more surprises!
Roster
Michael Issler
Mateo Botero
Ryan Aouad
Daniel Gertsik
Leo Bauer
Leo Sartini
Alexander Paolini
Matthew Li
Andres Fuentes
Devon Roberts
Aidan Goldenberg
Domenic Mancuso
Collin Pickett
Enzo Islas
Renato Martins
Alex Easton
Daevon Brunner
Ryan Schultz
Nick Bouras
Aleksander Ljiljak
Megh Chatterjee
Freddy Abreu
Joshua Blyakher
Ioannis Michalakelis
Xaiver Reid
Schedule
Meet 1: 2/15 @ Olympic Heights
Meet 2: 2/22 Iron Rodeo (West Boca)
Meet 3: 2/29 TBD
Meet 4: 3/7 Home vs. Boca High
Districts: 3/28 @ Olympic Heights 9 AM
Regional: 4/4-4/6 (Most likely St. Cloud)
States: 4/19-4/20 (Lakeland)
