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Port McNeill athlete wins best female weightlifter

Lexi Murgatroyd cleaned up at BC Provincials
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HERMAN CHAN PHOTOS Lexi Murgatroyd won Best Female Lifter and will be heading to a National competition in Halifax.

Port McNeill’s Lexie Murgatroyd is really strong, and she has the medals to prove it.

She competed in 2017 BC Provincials in Weightlifting and came home from the competition winning the Best Female Lifter for the 2017 BC provincials in weightlifting overall and also won her division.

“She started cross-fitting a little over a year ago and weight lifting is apart of cross-fit and we decided to put her in a competition in Nanaimo, probably four or five months ago, and she qualified for provincials,” said her dad and coach John Murgatroyd.

Although Lexi was more interested in cross-fit, her dad said she was a natural at weightlifting. “She was also coached by Eric Dutcyvich and she has a coach that me and Eric are friends with in Vancouver that is an actual weightlifter and he has coached her for a couple of meets,” said John.

Lexi competed in the 58kg category for females. Weightlifting is judged by the Sinclair System which is used to compare different weight classes in Olympic weightlifting, and that was what determined Lexi to be the top overall female lifter.

Lexi is now one of four female lifters chosen for Team BC to compete in the Nationals in Halifax, N.S. in January.

“I got an email from the Nanaimo Hercules Club and the coach there is a coach from Team BC and he asked if Lexi wanted to be on the team so now she is heading to Halifax,” said John, adding “I’m proud as hell - I’m a very proud parent and I would like her to do every thing she would like to do but I like that she is into a healthy lifestyle.”

2018 Canadian Junior Weightlifting Championships will take place on Jan. 20 and gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded for the total in each bodyweight.

Best Athlete awards for men and women will be determined by Sinclair points based on actual bodyweight of the athlete and team prizes will be awarded to the best teams for the men and women.