MOULTRIE, Ga. — Five members of the local South Georgia Barbell weightlifting program will compete this weekend in the USA Weightlifting Youth National Weightlifting competition. 

The competition, which will be held in Detroit, Michigan, is for any competitor between the ages of 11 and 16 and is separated into weight classes. Eli Meads, Asher Fountain, Emma Meads, Luke Walters and Gunner Griffin have all qualified for the event by participating in local competitions. 

“They participate in two movements. A ‘snatch’ and a ‘clean and jerk…’ They get three attempts at both movements and the combined weights of both determine if they qualify or not,” said South Georgia Barbell Founder Matt Cannon. 

The lifting competition is “Olympic style,” Cannon said, which means the movements in the national competition are the same as Olympic competition. Cannon’s team is competing in the newest Olympic sport to come to Moultrie alongside more established programs such as swimming, diving and shooting.

“As one of the newer Olympic sports in Moultrie, this is beyond amazing and something to be proud of,” said Cannon.

Eli Meads has been training about three years, the longest out of the young competitors, and won a gold medal at the 2020 national championship, Cannon said. Fountain has been training the second longest at around two years and won bronze at the 2020 national championship alongside Meads. 

Walters has trained for a year and a half, Griffin has trained for almost a full year and Emma Meads has been training for only two months. This will be their first national competition, Cannon said. 

South Georgia Barbell has also had a gold medalist in the Masters weightlifting division for ages 35-40. Debra Fountain, mother of Asher Fountain, won gold in a previous national competition and continues to train with Cannon and Asher. 

Cannon is a Moultrie native and began his personal training career with the YMCA. After getting his USA Weightlifting Coaching Certification in 2019, he began to train out of his home’s garage. He opened the South Georgia Barbell training facility at 105 Rowland Drive in December of 2020. There he trains powerlifters, Olympic style lifting, Crossfit and other fitness classes. For more information on their programs, you can reach them at 229-921-7475.