Toowoomba Weightlifters Titles

SIX Toowoomba athletes will be after national titles this weekend in Ipswich at the Australian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships.

David Hockins looks to be the one to beat in the men’s 56kg junior (under 20) division as his best lifts of 68kg in snatch and 95kg in clean-and-jerk are better than the best of those he will face this weekend.

National representatives Jake Ratcliffe and Kara Stuart will also be contenders in their divisions having represented Australia at the Oceania Championships earlier this year.

Ratcliffe will contest the boys 69kg youth (under 17) division and he is hoping to produce an 80kg lift in snatch and 100kg in clean-and-jerk.

Stuart will be up against a Tasmanian lifter in the girls 48kg youth division who beat her at the Oceania Championships in Fiji, so she will be out to turn the tables.

She won two silver medals at the Oceania Championships in Fiji in May.

Shane Wagner will be competing against older lifters in Ipswich as the under 15 competitor will contest the boys 62kg youth division.

He will be out to improve his snatch and clean-and-jerk combined lifts of 117kg.

Toowoomba’s Francesca Veenstra and Jesse Csallo will also lift at the national championships, while Greg Hobl will coach the Queensland squad.

Veenstra and Csallo will both make their debut at national level and will be out to gain more experience at the higher level of competition.

The Toowoomba contingent competing could have been bigger had Bianca Sheppard not been injured.