LAKELAND — Among Olivia Celiscar’s seven older siblings are older brothers Donald and Josh, both of whom played Division I football and were multi-sport athletes in high school, and Isaac, a two-time basketball player of the year who has just transferred from Yale to Baylor.
Olivia, however, can more than hold her own with her well-accomplished brothers. She just completed her senior track and field season where she won her second state title — two more than her brothers — and graduated as the county-record holder in girls shot put.
Olivia is The Ledger’s Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
During the season, Olivia rarely was challenged. She won nine of 11 events, finishing second at St. Cloud in the second meet of the season and finishing third at the FSU Relays. She repeated as county, district and region champion before repeating as state champion.
Olivia showed at the state meet that she could rise to the occasion when pushed. She trailed going into her last attempt then put up a throw of 41 feet 9 inches on her last attempt to come away with the state title. She beat Creekside’s Suin Crowley by more than 1 foot.
“I didn’t expect anybody to hit a certain mark, and a girl came in and she threw a mark that was further than mine by my third throw,” Olivia said. “So my last throw, I was like, I’m not worried about the mark, I’m worried about winning. I just had to just win.”
Olivia had family support behind her on that throw, including her parents and brothers Donald and Isaac.
“I had to (win) because my family was there,” she said. “They all came out, so I was like, I’m not going to let them see me, lose. I’ve been winning this whole time. I’m not going to lose here now.”
The gold medal was the third state medal that Olivia has won this year. In the winter, she won silver and bronze medals at the girls weightlifting state meet. She was in line to win gold in Traditional as she led with only Haines City’s Divineya Smith with one lift on the bench remaining. Smith, however, lifted a personal record to capture gold and drop Olivia to second place.
Olivia wasn’t too disappointed.
“There was not type of remorse,” she said. “I was proud. Her last lift went up easy, so even if I was closer, she could have gone up 30 pound and still would have hit it. At the end of the day, it’s not my primary sport. So I knew I was going to get gold in track.”
Olivia’s confidence in herself wasn’t misplaced. Coming from weightlifting, her first two meets she threw under 40 feet fore she finally got rolling, hitting more than 42 feet all the way to the state meet. Last year, she hit went over 42 feet just once, which was at the state meet when she hit 42-02.75.
When she finished third at the FSU Relays, her make of 43-02.75 was just less than six inches shy of the county record of 43-08 set by Winter Haven’s Jaime King in 2011.
Olivia finally got the county record when she threw 44-03 at the Winter Haven Last Chance Meet.
Although it’s not her favorite event, Olivia also was the top discus thrower in the county. She won the county meet, finished second at districts and third at regionals. Although she set her personal mark (123-08.25) at an AAU meet following her sophomore season, she was more consistent this season. Last year, she threw more than 110 feet just twice. This year, she went over 110 feet seven times in 10 meets with a season-best mark of 120-01.5.
“It’s all about technique, and I didn’t meet the technique part of the throw,” she said. “So it’s not like I truly advanced, but it was better than last year.”
Celiscar is being recruited for the shot put but is willing to work on the discus if her college coaches want her in the event.
As of this writing, Celiscar is undecided on college. Academics, she said, will play a part in her decision as she want to be an anesthesiologist assistant.
Where ever she goes, she’ll continue to have family support.
“Isaac, he thinks that he’s a shot put guru,” she said laughing. “He comes to me and he’s like, you have to get low, you have to, do this. He has really pushed me a lot.”
Donald, she said, calls her asking her if she needs anything and, her father, she said, always provides positive support.
“Even him saying you’re making me proud is like, ‘OK, that’s like me wanting to do more because like if I’m making you proud, I do, I got to do more,” she said.
And then there’s mom.
“She’s a prayer warrior,” Olivia said. “She prays for us. My sister and my mom, they’re prayer warriors and just feeling everybody’s support is like, OK, I’m on top with their support. Even if I lost, they still, they have my back regardless. It’s a great support system.”
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Girls track athlete of the year Celiscar leaves as 2-time state champion
Reporting by Roy Fuoco, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Roy Fuoco, Lakeland Ledger | USA TODAY Network
