Alyssa Ritchey and Kathleen Winters Earn Medals at Pan Am Championships

The Pan American Championships started great for Team USA. In the first A session of the week, 48kg lifters Alyssa Ritchey and Kathleen Winters both made the podium.

Ritchey and Winters both went 3-for-3 in the snatch with Ritchey edging out Winters by 1kg. Ritchey’s 77kg snatch was good for a silver medal in the snatch. Winters would take 3rd place and the bronze medal.

Both athletes would go 2-for-3 in the clean and jerk as well with both missing their final lifts. Ritchey’s 95kg clean and jerk would be good enough to earn a bronze medal in the total.

Ritchey attempted 100kg on her final lift but failed on the jerk.

I made 5/6 lifts, I walked out with a silver 🥈in snatch & a bronze 🥉overall! This was my first international competition with 10 months dedicated solely to the sport. . . My most proud moment on the stage was the 100kg clean & jerk that I missed. Yes I missed it. BUT if you saw the fight, the determination, the drive that it took to stand the clean up, you would understand why it was my most proud moment out there. About midway through the clean there was a pause & that was the moment I wanted to drop it. It's a funny thing how powerful your mind is because in that one second there were so many other thoughts that drove me to make the clean. The jerk was to far forward or maybe I should've waited another second blah blah blah…..I missed the jerk. Everything I did yesterday was perfect. But next time this little bitty is coming for more. I am hungry and I am ready to compete again. #bittystrong @juggernauttraining @max_aita @pyrrospyrros @usa_weightlifting @roguefitness @nikewomen @athleteps @trifectasystem @rpstrength 📸credit:Joe McCray @realsightphotos

A post shared by Alyssa Ritchey (@alyssaritchey1) on Jul 24, 2017 at 9:06am PDT

Pan-Ams 2017. check ✅. Pre meet was absolutely horrifying and unexpected. 🙅🏻I was stuck in Chicago for 18 hours when my flight got delayed and then ultimately canceled at 1am. I had no where to sleep, check my body weight or no where to go. I purchased the last seat on a different airline to get me to Fort Lauderdale by Saturday at 1pm. However my luggage was due to arrive at the Miami Airport at 3pm …thank God it did! After being up for 24+ hours my weight did not want to cooperate so I was 1kg over just 4 hours before weigh ins. 🐳Luckily @pyrrospyrros was there for me literally wiping the sweat off me in the sauna for about 3 hours …he is the true hero here and such a blessing…🙌🏼 I missed my first shot to weigh in but shortly after I made weight at 48.00. I went on to have a 5/6 meet and take home the bronze in the snatch and 4th overall 🥉All I can say is mind over matter. Oddly enough I am so thankful for all the struggles I had pre meet because I broke some big mental barriers about competing in un-ideal conditions. Sometimes in life things don't go your way. While I was in the sauna (thinking I was going to die) I kept telling myself to think of the men who served in Vietnam, or those fighting for us in the Middle East, this is nothing compared to what they do, your almost there, there are so many people who are having a worse day then you so be grateful for this experience and learn from it. Every meet you learn a little something more. Yesterday I fought hard for every lift, I may not have had a PR kind of day but I grew so much as an athlete and person. I truly am grateful for the struggle 🙏🏼. @usa_weightlifting @teamusa @pyrrospyrros @camargo_oly @athleteps @caraheadsslaughter @mgattone64 @maxsgym @alyssaritchey1

A post shared by KD (@kathleenwinters) on Jul 24, 2017 at 4:08am PDT