Sault weightlifter hauls home heavy load of gold medals

The Sault’s Erica Schryer is very capable of heavy lifting.

In fact, she excels in it.

The 19-year-old won three gold medals at the 2024 Canadian Junior Weightlifting Championship held in Scarborough from June 14 to 16.

Schryer won gold for lifting 78 kilograms (172 pounds) in the snatch, 97 kilograms (214 pounds) in the clean and jerk and for finishing first in her weight class.

The snatch involves lifting a barbell from the ground to over the head in one motion while the clean and jerk requires the athlete to lift a barbell from the ground to the shoulders first, then over the head.

“I just started focusing on weight lifting in January, so to be standing on the podium five months later at the nationals felt pretty unreal,” Schryer told SooToday.

Focusing solely on weightlifting was a change for Schryer as she has already compiled a long list of achievements in CrossFit competitions.

Crossfit is a physically demanding combination of weightlifting, powerlifting, bodybuilding, gymnastics, running, swimming, skipping, rope climbing and other athletic activities.

In some CrossFit activities, athletes are required to do as many reps of an exercise in an allotted time. 

The weightlifting component includes the snatch, clean and jerk, squats as well as lifting dumbbells and kettlebells.

Schryer was encouraged to get involved in CrossFit at the age of 13 by Tyson Mount, owner of Sault gym TMX Athletics.

Her first CrossFit competition was at the CanEast Games at McMaster University in Hamilton in 2019.

She qualified for the CanWest CrossFit Championships scheduled for June 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic derailed that event.

She returned to competition post-pandemic and made it to the podium in June 2022 during that year’s Atlas Games in Montreal, earning a first-place finish in the girls 15-18 age category.

She then competed against some of the best young CrossFit athletes in the world in the Elite Teen Throwdown CrossFit competition at ‘The Pit’ Fitness Ranch in Three Rivers, Michigan in Sept. 2022.      

“Sometimes CrossFit is the most painful thing and it makes me wonder why I do this to myself,” she laughed.

“It’s going through a workout with heavy weights, gymnastics movements, running and trying to get as many reps done as I can in a certain amount of time. But I really like pushing myself, trying to find my limits and pushing past those limits. I like the satisfaction of knowing I pushed myself past my limits and did everything I could in that moment. I push myself in everything I do.”

“My favourite part of CrossFit is the heavy lifting. I love anything with heavy barbells,” Schryer said.

That led her back to concentrating on that particular form of athletic activity in a competitive way.

“I had the chance to move out to Saskatoon for a little bit to focus on training for CrossFit and then my coach, Jason Cain, who owns a gym out there called Crossfit 306 told me this would be my last year as a junior weightlifter because this year I turn 20,” Schryer said.

“I’ve always loved weightlifting. My coach saw my potential in weightlifting and said why don’t we focus on weightlifting this year to see how far I can go. We started focusing on the snatch and the clean and jerk.”

Schryer has been in five weightlifting competitions in the last few months. 

“It definitely was not easy. It was a lot of work. My first competition was in February and I made the international standard and after my second competition I hit the qualifying standard for the senior nationals in Halifax.”

Because of her multiple gold medal-winning performance at the 2024 Canadian Junior Weightlifting Championship in mid-June, Schryer will be competing for Team Canada at the Commonwealth Championships in Fiji Sept. 17-21.

“It will be super cool to go all the way to Fiji to compete,” Schryer said.

“I was one of those kids that did every sport I could. I was in gymnastics and competed in that until I was nine. I did soccer, swimming and hockey. I was on skates basically since the time I learned to walk,” said Schryer, who played as a Wildcat in the Sault Female Hockey Association.    

The Korah Collegiate graduate has already completed her first year of study in Sault College’s Sports Administration program and said she intends to finish the two-year program in the future.

Looking at her long-term career goals, Schryer said “I want to be a CrossFit coach and run my own gym. I know I want to be in sports.”