- January 27, 2026
-
-
Loading
Loading
Their sights used to be set on smaller goals.
District titles were enough for the Braden River High girls weightlifters. A team gold had never been won at regionals until 2024. Sending one or two athletes to the state meet was a major achievement.
But with each passing season this decade, the expectations have gradually been raised. Crowns at the county, district and regional levels? The Pirates have been there, done that.
They just wanted to participate as a team at the state championships in 2025. This time around, participation alone won’t be satisfactory.
“This group of kids is a reflection of what a state championship team looks like,” said Pirates Coach Jordan Borges. “I know what their expectation is, and it’s my expectation, too. So it’s win or go home.”
Braden River has built a powerhouse in the sport — lifter-by-lifter, weight-by-weight.
A stellar track record has come from it. Entering the 2025-26 season, the team was the county and district champion three years running, as well as back-to-back regional champion.
The winning ways have only continued, beginning with the Pirates’ fourth consecutive undefeated dual meet regular season. They also secured yet another county title on Jan. 10, and two weeks later, made it four in a row at the FHSAA Class 2A-District 12 championship.
The pursuit of the first team state title in program history feels real. But that goal would not have been realistic some years ago.
Girls weightlifting at Braden River once lacked a winning culture. Postseason results as a team were rarely impressive despite talented athletes in the weight room.
Borges tried to set a stronger foundation even before his head-coaching days, when he served as an assistant under former coach Rich Lansky. Jumping into the driver’s seat for 2022-23 allowed him and his staff to reshape the program.
“When I first came in, the way that the school viewed and the girls viewed the sport of weightlifting was ‘We’re just going to participate,’” Borges said. “What we ended up changing was their self-esteem and the way that they view themselves and their self-confidence.”
Any successful team stems from successful individuals. Success itself starts with belief.
So the Pirates focused on building each other up, one by one. Borges believed in them and they believed in him.
Weightlifting is, after all, individual at its core — even for athletes on a high school team. The greatest opponent is the bar, which requires a battle against the body.
“The confidence is 20 times better than what (it was in the past),” said senior Payton Mangay-Ayam. “We’ve grown so much, not even just strength-wise, but mentally.”
Braden River placed fourth at the county championships in 2022. In Borges’ first year at the helm, the turnaround was staggering. The team assembled an undefeated dual regular season en route to county and district titles.
As belief and confidence spread like wildfire, certain athletes ascended to the spotlight.
Jada Phillips was a true trailblazer. Her prolific career ended with second place in Olympic style for the 139-pound weight class at the state meet in 2024 — tied for the highest in school history.
She’s now a sophomore catcher/utility player for LSU softball, but before her graduation, passed the torch to Mangay-Ayam.
The now-senior has lit a new fire with it, trying to become the program’s most decorated lifter. She will become Braden River’s first individual girls state champion if she takes home gold in Olympic or Traditional style for the 129-pound weight class at the state meet on Feb. 12.
“It’s the house Jada Phillips built, but now Payton has renovated the entire house,” Borges said.
The Pirates are so synonymous with success that they’ve pulled athletes away from other sports who just want to be part of a winning team.
Senior Taylor Ford is one of them. She quit gymnastics as a freshman and joined at the advice of Mangay-Ayam, who left the same sport for weightlifting. Culture proved attractive to both of them.
Braden River can recruit — and crucially, retain — talent. Keeping the right people in the weight room is why this team is poised to reach unprecedented heights at the statewide level.
“Everybody is very driven, especially this year and last year. Everybody’s dedicated to it and they’re ready to win,” Ford said. “We push ourselves to our max. That’s what we do.”
An era of dominance has arrived under Borges’ leadership. Reshaping the program with confidence and belief continues to make a winning difference.
He will never accept credit for any team titles or individual medals along the way.
“Like a great mentor says to me, we write checks that these kids have to cash. They go out there and they perform,” Borges said. “I haven’t really built any of it.”
And he’s right. He alone hasn’t placed these athletes on podiums.
It was a collective building process that put the Pirates on the girls weightlifting map.
