- February 20, 2025
As soon as Seabreeze High School senior Sofia James qualified on Feb. 12 for the regional wrestling championships, she texted her weightlifting coach, Tarisa Craig-Craggy, to tell her the news. Not that there was a big hurry. James was going to see Craig-Craggy the next morning anyway — on the way to the state weightlifting championships.
James placed third at the District 4 wrestling tournament at Flagler Palm Coast, and then, two days later, placed fourth in her weight class for the second year in a row at the Class 2A state weightlifting championships in Lakeland.
At district wrestling, she suffered her first loss of the season in the 170-pound semifinals, as she was pinned by 2023 state champ Kendall Bibla. James followed that with two pins of her own in the consolation bracket.
“It’s a busy week, yeah,” she said between her wrestling matches. “But I get time off from school, and I get to do what I love. I don't see any downsides.”
This is her first year as a wrestler, though she has done jiu jitsu before, she said. When weightlifting season was starting, Seabreeze wrestling coach Paul Shuler asked her if she would like to try wrestling too — in the same season. About a month later, James took him up on his offer.
“The weight room’s next door to the wrestling room, so I talked to her at the beginning of her weightlifting season and she came in a few weeks of wrestling starting,” Shuller said. “She's a natural as far as picking up on technique and skill. She's definitely an athlete.”
She was disappointed in her performance at the state weightlifting meet, though she won a fourth-place medal at 169 pound for the second year in a row in the traditional competition and also finished among the top 10 in the Olympic competition.
“She was proud of what she’s accomplished this season,” Craig-Craggy said. “She wanted to hit lifts that she didn’t hit, but she was very proud to get on the podium.”
James has been doubling up on training for the past few months, each day going from weightlifting practice to wrestling practice.
“Both of my coaches are amazing and so supportive,” she said. “I’m more competitive in weightlifting. Wrestling is definitely hard training, I’m leaving there sweaty and tired, but I’m having a lot of fun with it. I’m learning new things. Being bad at something, and seeing yourself become better, that’s my favorite.”
The state championships would be her final weightlifting competition, she said. Now, she wants to pursue wrestling in college. She hopes to earn a spot on the women’s team at the University of Central Florida, where she plans to major in aerospace engineering.
“She so badly wants to be a collegiate athlete,” Craig-Craggy said. “She has the determination. When she puts her mind to something, there’s no stopping that girl.”
But first James wants to accomplish something that probably no female has done in Florida, qualify for the state championships in both weightlifting and wrestling in the same season.
“She’s a rockstar,” Craig-Craggy said. “She’s been competing in two very physical sports at the same time. I told her, ‘you need be proud of yourself.’”
