Ottawa Ice National Ringette League star Jayme Simzer left her skates at home and represented the CrossFit Closer Barbell Club at the March 27-28 Ontario Weightlifting Championships, winning the women’s 75 kg competition in Scarborough.
Local athletes from JustLift recorded several podium performances, including men’s 62 kg category champion Ian Haya, Esther Dalle and Valerie Hoang (gold and silver in women’s 53 kg) and Nancy Kozorezova (bronze in women’s 69 kg).
Silver medallist Isabelle Després’ 181 kg total matched her provincial record and the winner’s mark in the women’s 63 kg division. The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games participant from the Ottawa Elite Weightlifting Club was the top local athlete in the Sinclair rankings (which compares athletes’ performances in different weight categories against one another) in 5th overall for women.
The provincials served as an official qualification competition for the Pan Am Games. The final Pan Am qualifier will be the May 16-17 Canadian Championships in Mississauga.