Weighty effort
BRIDGEVILLE — Secondplace isn't winning, but it's getting Chris Gilman where he wants to go.
The 2001 A-CValley graduate and former 1,000-yard rusher in football placed second in his weight class at the Steel City Open weight-lifting tournament in Bridgeville Sunday.
Gilman snatched 105 kilograms (231 pounds) and lifted 135 kilograms (297 pounds) in the clean and jerk. The 240-kilogram total qualifies him for the prestigious American Open Dec. 2 in Birmingham, Ala.
"That's the second biggest weight-lifting tournament in the United States,"Gilman said about the Alabama event. "The first is the United States National Championships."
The latter event is scheduled for August in Shreveport, La., and Gilman hopes to be there as well.
He has to qualify by lifting 247 combined kilograms first. Gilman plans to make that attempt at the Ohio State Games in Toledo on July 8.
"I was planning on taking some time off, but this is important to me,"Gilman said. "My goal is to snatch 107 and clean and jerk 140."
Gilman has been involved in weight lifting only since January 2005. He graduated from Edinboro University with honors last month, majoring in health and physical education.
He was a scholar athlete, graduated with a 3.49 grade point average and made the dean's list during his final two semesters in college.
A defensive back with the Fighting Scots football team for three years, Gilman was voted special teams captain by his teammates in his senior season.
Now he's making the transition to competitive weight lifting.
"I'm encouraged by what's happened in the past year,"Gilman said. "I've met with success in a relatively short time and I want to keep going."
Competing in the 77-kilogram weight class (169 pounds), Gilman has a long-term goal of competing in the 2012 Olympics in London.
"I'm going to have to be lifting 330 kilograms by then,"he admitted. "I know that's a long way off, but I'm giving myself years to get there."
