Wewa state champ lifter headed to Warner
Wewahitchka High School senior Ashlyn Ake, who helped lead the Lady Gators to a state championship title this winter, is moving on to a college lifting career.
At a ceremony on March 28, Ake inked a letter of intent to lift next year for the Warner University Lady Royals, which last year introduced Strength Sports as a program that offers scholarships.
Lifters under the “Strength Sports” team represent Warner, which is a 57-year-old private, nonprofit Christian campus located just south of Lake Wales in Polk County.
The lifters compete at USAW and USAPL events, under the direction of Director of Strength and Conditioning Pete Townley, who was present at the signing.
The high school also unveiled two giant banners, celebrating Wewa’s state title in both the Olympic and Traditional competition. Ake helped propel that victory with a state title in the 183-pound weight class.
Townley, who has run similar programs at other universities, has plans to have his athletes compete in sanctioned meets throughout the year, along with duels with other universities.
“I hope to bring my experience as a weightlifter, and weightlifting coach to develop athletes that compete on the national stage,” he said, in a news release. “I see this move as a great opportunity to provide athletic opportunities to athletes who didn’t have that route available. There aren’t many schools offering scholarships in these sports, so I am excited that these strong men and women will now have that same college sports experience in the sport in which they excel.”
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.