TAMPA, Fla. — It's early, the sun waking up, but inside the weight room, J.W. Mitchell's Izzy Guillan is already pumping some iron.

What You Need To Know

  • J.W. Mitchell's Izzy Guillan wins first girls weightlifting state title in school history

  • Izzy Guillan trains twice a day, her first workout is before the sun comes up

  • She had to bench and snatch 160lbs and clean & jerk 210lbs for the medals

  • Izzy Guillan will compete at Junior Nationals this summer to hopefully make team U.S.A

"It's definitely a change, she told Spectrum Sports 360's Katya Guillaume, "and definitely something different than working out in the afternoon but I honestly enjoy it and it definitely made me motivated to get up earlier and workout earlier." 

She started lifting weights just three years ago.

She said, "I was really just looking to stay in shape and I kind of just tried out at the Olympic weightlifting gym that I'm currently at and I just continued working out every week and just returning to the gym and it turned into this and going 24/7, competing."

Then she joined the Mitchell high school weightlifting team, a team that has had a lot of success this year.

"I believe that our team has grown stronger in the past few years," she continued. "We have girls who motivate each other, cheer each other on every day and I think that's one of the biggest things about this team is that we cheer each other on, no matter what."

Izzy and 12 other Mustangs qualified for the state finals.

"That's the most we've had," she said. "In the past three years, I've been on this team, it's the most we've had."

Hard work and motivation led her to the podium at the FHSAA weightlifting state championships this year.

"Now I'm nervous knowing what happened but again knowing that I worked so hard to get to that point to have that chance to do that lift and accomplish that lift, I know at the moment it was kind of like an all-or-nothing thing,"- Izzy.

Izzy not only win the title in her weight class but overall, in the state, something that has never been done in a Mustang's uniform.

She said, "Knowing that I had the possibility and the chance to break that state record, it's definitely something that this whole year I've been thinking about and again continue to work towards. In that moment, I kind of knew. I'm like okay well I'm going for the state record, I have to get this."

She had to bench and snatch 160 pounds and clean and jerk 210 pounds in her 119 weight class for the medals. 

Recalling that moment, "Sometimes I look back and I think crazy seeing how I was lifting just the barbell 2 years ago and now I'm accomplishing things I never even expected."

The timing couldn't have been any better for the senior who's excited to close out this chapter of her life with 2 medals and looks forward to joining team U.S.A. 

This summer she will be competing at the Junior Nationals in Colorado. She said that's the cut-off to make team U.S.A., her dream.