ABOVE: Addison Lintleman, left, and Mackenzie Gerhardt during weightlifting competitions. Submitted photos

FAIRMONT – In two years, Fairmont’s weightlifting club has already grown to ten students total with three qualifying for state or nationals.

This increase in students has included four seventh-grade girls, with the team being co-ed and encouraging anyone in grades 7-12 to join. Of those, the three qualifiers are returning competitors Jackson Goraczowski and Makenzie Gerhardt, as well as newcomer Addison Lintelman.

Weightlifting coach Josie Sodersten said she and her husband have been involved in Olympic Weightlifting as a hobby for around 10 years. She then became aware it was a growing high school sport and collaborated with students like Makenzie Gerhardt to make the club possible.

There are specifics that define Olympic Weightlifting as a sport.

“They compete in two specific lifts,” Sodersten said. “One lift is called the snatch, and one lift is called the clean and jerk. It’s a style of weight lifting that if you watch the Olympic Summer Games, you’ll see the athletes do there.”

It is different from powerlifting, which involves the deadlift, squat and bench. Sodersten said there currently is not a high school sport offered for powerlifting.

While raw power is involved, Sodersten said Olympic Weightlifting is more technical-focused.

“You don’t have to be a big, bulky individual,” she said. “If you hone in on the technique of those lifts, you can go a lot further than just having raw strength.”

At competitions, participants lift against others in their weight class and get three chances at each lift.

Overall, Sodersten said the team’s goal was to continue learning and developing individually and together.

“Learning that form,” Sodersten said. “learning how to live safely, having fun and just getting stronger.”

Certain students also had individual goals. Ninth grader Gerhardt’s was to make it to state, which she had yet to accomplish despite getting agonizingly close before. She has been weightlifting since fourth grade, years before the club was a thing.

While she had made it to nationals before, she said oddly it is more difficult to make it to state than nationals.

“Minnesota is one of the main four or five states in the U.S. that has high school weight lifting, and that is very competitive. Our totals we have to do, they only accept maybe three people max. Nationals has an open door policy to whoever qualifies.”

For Lintelman, being on a Weightlifting team has been fun when it comes to seeing the progress of herself and other members.

“When it started, I was getting used to the moment still,” she said. “Now I’m working on getting heavier weights.”

The feeling Lintelman said she had when finding out she qualified for state was really special. Looking forward, she said it is all about feeling the buzz of the moment.

“I’m excited to be there, work hard and try my best.”

Gerhardt said she is looking forward to the future of the club, and hopes more people take it up.

“It’s a sport I feel everyone should be doing,” she said. “It helps on the foundation of other sports with strength.”

“It also helps with your mental strength [for other sports],” Lintelman said. “It’s hard to miss a lift because you have three lifts. If you miss your first lift, it’s hard to get back into the groove.”

The state lifting competition will be on March 8 in Cannon Falls, with the national competition in June in Colorado Springs, Colorado.