Trio thrives at first powerlifting nationals

Three Brandonites who attended the Canada Powerlifting National Championships earlier this month brought home two medals and plenty of inspiration from St. John’s, NL.

Trinity Nwaozor finished second in the junior women’s 84-kg division, Halle McCorrister was second in the women’s junior 57-kg division and Orson Lecheminant tied for third in the men’s junior 66-kg division but was moved to fourth on a countback.

Even so, Nwaozor said her first appearance at nationals didn’t go exactly as she hoped.

“It was pretty bad,” Nwaozor said. “I had a calf cramp on my second attempt squat and that affected me throughout my lifts. There was just a lingering pain. I don’t think I re-fed properly after I weighed in, I didn’t feed myself properly and that’s just how it went.

“I also slept like four hours the night before. But I did come in second, which is what I wanted.”

In the sport, athletes compete in the squat, bench press and deadlift, in that order. They get three attempts at each lift, and carry the highest total forward for their combined score.

Nwaozor squatted 180 kg (396.8 pounds), benched 97.5 kg (214.9 lbs) and deadlifted 200 kg (440.9 pounds) for a total of 477.5 kg (1,052.7 lbs), finishing behind Ontario’s Alexis Seaman.

Nwaozor’s current personal bests are 420 pounds in the squat, 225 in the bench and 453 pounds in the deadlift.

The 19-year-old Nigerian-born athlete, who moved to Brandon at age 13, won’t be returning to nationals next year because she plans to focus on her nursing degree, but she will be heading back to Newfoundland to represent Canada at the North American championships from Aug. 2 to 8.

A highlight was that she got to meet Brittany Schlater, a Canadian and world champion powerlifter.

“There is a different energy,” Nwaozor said. “There is way more people cheering and more people hyped up that want to be there.”

McCorrister, an 18-year-old first-year student at Brandon University, squatted 132.5 kn (292 lbs), benched 80 kg (176 lbs) and deadlifted 147.5 kg (325 lbs) for a total of 360 kg (793.6 lbs) to finish behind Quebec’s Yuma Khushpreet Nagra-Yasuoka.

The bench press was McCorrister’s new personal high in competition, beating her previous mark of 174 pounds, while she has deadlifted 325 pounds and squatted 308 pounds in the past.

“At first I was a little bit disappointed with the numbers because it wasn’t moving how I wanted, but it took me a second to realize it’s nationals and a totally different level of lifting and level of people,” McCorrister said. “I’m just happy I got to go there and compete against some of the best.”

Even so, she said she wouldn’t have believed you if you told her she would be in that spot a year ago when she was still new to the sport.

She took some time off after she returned from Newfoundland and has begun training to qualify for next year’s event.

“It was a really different energy,” McCorrister said. “You could feel how motivated everybody was. It was not a pressure, but it was striving to be as good as everyone else in the room.”

Lecheminant, a 15-year-old Crocus Plains student, may have had the most ups and downs of three. He squatted 155kg (341.7 lb) and benched 120 kg (264.5 lb), setting a new sub junior record for Manitoba.

Lecheminant was in second place when it was time for the deadlift. He knew he couldn’t lift at the same level as his competitors so he decided to drop down a bit in his weight to ensure he finished in third place.

Unfortunately, after his successful deadlifts of 155 and 170 kg, disaster struck.

“My body just completely shut down,” Lecheminant said. “I was very dizzy, very lightheaded, my legs were tingling. passing out basically in the back after my second dead lift. We lowered my third deadlight attempt. We were going to go for 185 kilos (407.8 pounds) and that would have put me in third by enough to secure it.

“My body started freaking out and I was very dizzy, and so we lowered the attempt to 177.5 kilos (391.3 pounds), which would be in third temporarily by 12.5 kilos, and force the guy battling me for third to load an extra 2.5 kilos onto his deadlift so he could tie me.”

Lecheminant was first in the lift order and made his third lift. When Matthew Hudson lifted 202.5 kgs, the pair were tied at 452.5 kg (997.5 lb), and since Hudson was 0.2 kilograms lighter, he finished third on the count back.

“It was really upsetting because I was that close to the podium that I wanted,” Lecheminant said. “It’s sad because I knew that I was stronger than him that day. I was way stronger on bench and it looked like I was going to pull enough to keep our margin big enough so that I would secure third place.”

His previous personal bests were 259 pounds in the bench, 331 in the squat and 380 in the deadlift, so he did set two new standards for himself.

His original plan had been to deadlift 190 kgs, which would have easily earned him third. As was, he collapsed in the back after his third lift and was helped to the back by others.

He wonders now if he would have been better served by drinking water instead of only electrolytes.

Still, in the open powerlifting rankings, he is the strongest 15-year-old in the 66-kg division of all time in Canada.

“I’m pretty proud of what I did,” Lecheminant said. “I’m still a little bit upset about how it ended up not being on the podium, but I was so close and I know I could have done and I know I should have done it. I know what I need to fix next time. I just have to show up and execute that.”

At nationals, he was competing against two 18-year-olds and another lifter about to turn 17. They can compete in the class until the day they turn 19.

“They were chasing me all the way until deadlift,” Lecheminant said. “I had them chasing me for the majority of the competition … I think it says a lot. I was the youngest one there and to be able to hold my weight and get those older guys off my back and make a gap, I think I’m pretty confident in the next couple of years I’m going to soar past these guys.

“This was just the start.”

One thing he enjoyed about going to nationals was seeing motivated and talented lifters in action. That included a handful of world record attempts by some of the best athletes in the world.

“The energy of it was sick,” Lecheminant said. “When the announcers would call out ‘This is a world record attempt,’ the whole crowd would light up. People were standing on chairs screaming yelling, clapping, cheering, it was insane. The environment was crazy. I can see myself being there one day.”

He said it’s not motivational, but instead is just cool to see. He said instead he was just honoured to be able to speak with and be in the same room as some of the world’s best.

Lecheminant wants to go back, and has applied for a number of international competitions. If he doesn’t get any, he’ll return next year with a whole new perspective.

“I wouldn’t bet against winning,” Lecheminant said. “I have a lot of time to grow into this class. I was the youngest one there. I’m strong and can grow into it. I wouldn’t write anything off for next nats.”

pbergson@brandonsun.com