Oxford woman earns 1st place in weightlifting competition

OXFORD — Christa Baumgartner is a familiar face around St. Mary Catholic Church, often filling in playing piano for Sunday masses and serving as the parish’s housekeeper, making sure the church and rectory are clean.

She is also a champion weightlifter having recently taken first place in a competition including a deadlift of 455 pounds.

That lift alone was well more than twice her own weight but on the day of the competition, she managed a bench press of 215 pounds and a squat of 390 pounds in addition to the 455-pound deadlift. Those were her best lifts of the day in each category but the competition had each contestant do three lifts in each.

“It was very nerve-wracking. I was there for nearly 12 hours. I got there at 7:45 (a.m.) and left at 7 (p.m.). We had three attempts at each lift and had to wait in between,” she said, explaining she tried to work on staying calm in between. Contestants would be called to each site and stand in line waiting their turn. “In my third squat, I missed 420 pounds by about a half a centimeter.”

Baumgartner demonstrated the squat motion, showing the backside and knee must be at the same height from the floor so that the upper leg is parallel to the floor.

“The front judge gave it to me, but the two side judges said I missed it,” she said.

That meant her earlier 390-pound lift in that category was her best of the day.

Placing is based on the total weight of the three best lifts and she came back home with a first-place medal in the category of lifters who compete without using enhancing drugs. She finished with a total of 1,060 pounds.

“Many are heavily using steroids,” she said.

The Cincinnati Women’s Pro-Am event was conducted at Crossfit Conjugate gym in Blue Ash on April 9. The event drew heavily from the immediate region but was open to the world and drew lifters from all around the country as well as some from other countries.

A highlight for Baumgartner was meeting Laura Phelps, a world record-holder, who told her she was impressed with the accomplishment. Phelps holds five all-time world powerlifting records.

“It was my big first competition,” Baumgartner said with enthusiasm. She described the intensity of the day with an anecdote. “A girl next to me was lifting and her arm snapped. I was not even aware of it until later. This was a hard-core competition to jump into with people from around the country.”

She even took part in the day’s event at a bit of a disadvantage. She said she had been given a (lifting) belt and knee wraps as a gift and the delivery package was stolen off of her porch a couple weeks before the competition. She then had to get a new belt and wraps the day of the event and used them without a chance to break them in first. The stiffness of the new wraps may have contributed to her near miss on the squat event.

Baumgartner got into weightlifting in 2019, in part due to health issues. She was not able to walk for the first several years of her life and doctors feared cerebral palsy. Later, she got into gymnastics, which kept her generally strong but at age 16 she was diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease which kept her weight at 85 pounds four or five years ago.

“I needed to do something, so I started lifting. I kept adding weight,” she said, adding people kept commenting about the weight she was able to lift. “I had a hard time keeping weight on. I allowed about 20 percent of my diet fun, unhealthy food – donuts, brownies and ice cream. Ice cream is my favorite. I get 250 grams of protein a day. It’s mostly trial and error.”

She tried weightlifting and found she liked it, now listing it as one of her three hobbies, along with hiking and crocheting.

Her only injury during lifting had nothing to do with the weight she was using but occurred while she was on the lower level of the Miami Recreational Sports Center. Another Miami student was on the upper level above her with a metal water bottle which got knocked over the edge and fell near Baumgartner.

“The girl’s water bottle fell from above and broke open. I slipped and dislocated my sternum,” she said, adding the other girl came down upset that her water bottle had broken and left without an apology.

Baumgartner, the daughter of Marie and Eric Baumgartner, is a Talawanda High School and Miami University graduate with a degree in special education and a certificate in personal training and exercise. She is engaged to fellow Talawanda graduate, Jake Dankert, who she has known since ninth grade but they connected through lifting three years ago.

Since her graduation from Miami, she found herself unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and she got a call from St. Mary Church asking if she would like the part-time job as housekeeper two days a week. She jumped at that opportunity and now also works with an anonymous donor helping elderly residents in the area with whatever they need to have done. For two days a week, she helps people with cooking, cleaning and whatever other tasks they need.

“I do as much as I can as I feel comfortable,” she said.

She also works at Immortal Gym, in Hamilton, where she trains, working with special needs kids.

“It’s rewarding. It’s not easy, but it’s rewarding,” she said, and looking at her usual busy weekly schedule, added, “It’s exhausting, but fulfilling.”

She plans to stay with weightlifting both because of the health benefits, but also because she enjoys it. She noted her lift total at the April 9 event put her only 40 pounds away from a total that would qualify her for world competition among the women who are in the “testing” category using drugs, even though she does not use them.

“It takes a lot of dedication to keep it going,” she said. “I hope to do some sort of lifting for my life.”

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