Two Beaufort weightlifting phenoms added to their impressive resumes with championship performances in the past week.
CJ Cummings continued his push for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team with another record-smashing performance Thursday at the Junior Pan-American Weightlifting Championships in Havana, Cuba, and Dade Stanley made the most of his final USA Weightlifting Youth National Championships, sweeping his weight class Sunday in Anaheim, California.
Cummings set 15 records in the 73kg weight class while winning gold in the clean and jerk and overall competitions and taking silver in the snatch.
The 19-year-old star posted totals of 154kg in the snatch and 193kg in the clean for a 347kg total. All three marks represented new junior and senior Pan-American records, as well as junior and senior American records and junior world records.
The Junior Pan-American Championships are a gold event for the qualification process for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Cummings already was the top-ranked lifter in any weight class following a dominant performance earlier this month at the Pan-American Championships, where he also broke 15 records.
Stanley claimed all three gold medals in the 81kg weight class at the Youth National Championships, and he did so with relative ease, clinching all three golds with a lift of 145kg on his first clean and jerk attempt. Stanley also hit a 135kg snatch for a 280kg total, easily outpacing the competition by 23kg in the snatch, 3kg in the clean, and 26kg overall.
Stanley was the runner-up for best lifter in the 16-17 age group.
Above: Dade Stanley
