Photo courtesy of Mallory Evans Mallory Evans lifts 70 kilograms (154 pounds) in the clean and jerk at a Tri-City United dual meet on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022. The weight was, at the time, Evans’ heaviest competitive lift and resulted in a first-place finish in the 76-kilogram weight class.

It’s an early Saturday morning in Montgomery when Tri-City United’s Olympic weightlifting competition kicks off. Too early for Mallory Evans’ liking, but still, she shows up looking to compete.

One by one, athletes take center stage in front of the black and blue bleachers for their turn to take their shot and the clean and jerk or snatch.

While many athletes prefer to zone out as they prepare, plugging in their headphones to listen to music and tune out the world around them, Mallory Evans loves to watch the other athletes. After she finishes her pre-meet snack, a mini-jug of chocolate milk and a Rice Krispies Treat from the gas station, she likes to talk to the other athletes to help prepare herself for her lift.

“I try not to disturb any of the people with their AirPods who are trying to focus, but there were a couple of girls I tried to have conversations with,” Evans said. “I think that helps ease your nerves because you’re walking up in front of bleachers with around 100 people. It’s kind of intimidating, especially when you’ve only lifted in front of one person before.”

Evans took first place in the 76-kilogram weight class at the TCU dual meet with Burnsville. The meet was the Marshall native’s first time competing against other high schoolers since she took up Olympic lifting in July 2021. While she wasn’t part of either of the teams competing, she was given a spot in the meet because Marshall High School doesn’t have a lifting team and she competes as an individual.

“[Prior to the TCU dual meet], the youngest girls I’d ever competed with were probably in their young twenties. I was always at the bottom of my weight class there, but I think it gave me a really good experience,” Evans said. “I watched a lot of girls that were probably in their twenties that lifted really heavy and I could look up to, then I watched women in their fifties and it was inspiring to see them.”

At the TCU dual meet, Evans lifted 70 kilograms (154 pounds) in the clean and jerk, which she considers her better event. While she was pleasantly surprised by the win, she’s still motivated to do more. She’s lifted up to 165 pounds while training in the clean and jerk and wants to continue to lift that weight–and more–in regulation competition.

Despite being relatively new to the lifting community, Evans is a veteran when it comes to weight training. She played basketball in middle school and one year of soccer in high school and tried to play volleyball before leaving behind all three sports after her freshman year due to other priorities.

Playing sports with other girls was an aspect of organized sports that Evans enjoyed, but growing up on a farm, helping her father was also an important part of her life. As such, she had a choice to make.

“We were always moving cattle during soccer season, they always conflicted with each other, and I really enjoyed working on the farm, so I had to sacrifice school sports,” Evans said.

She didn’t have time to commit to a team, but physical exercise was something Evans didn’t want to give up. After spending time doing CrossFit in her basement, Marshall football head coach Terry Bahlmann introduced Evans to powerlifting.

From there, Evans’ mother brought her to Restored Strength, where Evans trains with Jen Enos. Saara Raapana, the gym’s owner, said that the Evans family approached her looking to train with Enos after they heard about Enos’ reputation as a coach and a lifter.

Enos has been coaching with Restored Strength since she moved to Minnesota from California in 2020 and was also a former basketball player-turned-lifter. After competing at Humboldt College, where she studied exercise science, she pursued Olympic weightlifting and currently competes at the national level.

While powerlifting tends to be more popular in the Southwest Minnesota area than Olympic lifting, Enos said there’s still plenty of competition in the sport. Many athletes begin lifting as cross-training for other sports but convert full-time after developing a passion for lifting.

Olympic lifting’s individual nature was something that made it an ideal sport for Evans’ time constraints. Rather than needing to make compromises with her personal life for her sport as she would for team practices, she had the ability to train on her own time, even if it meant 9 p.m. workouts.

“It gives me the freedom to do what I want without having a team rely on me all the time,” Evans said.

Ironically, despite training and competing as an individual, Evans cited the communal aspect of lifting as her favorite part of the sport. At Olympic lifting meets, complete strangers will cheer and clap for each other even when they’re having off days.

“The Midwest is good about being kind to each other, but other sports are hard because it’s a team against a team,” Evans said. “If the other basketball team makes a good play, you might acknowledge it, but you probably won’t cheer for the other team… I think in that way, it’s unique to weightlifting. People will walk up to you and say, ‘good job,’ even if they watched you win when their daughter is in your weight class.”

Having that kind of support can be important in a sport that relies heavily on athletes’ mental strength. While the physical aspect of lifting is more obvious, both Enos and Evans emphasized being focused, disciplined and motivated as difference-makers in the sport.

“[Motivation] is something I really struggle with sometimes. With weightlifting, it’s all about your mindset… you can push yourself, but if you don’t make that lift, there’s nothing to push,” Evans said.

For that reason, confidence is key to success in lifting competitions. Evans’ growth in the sport over the year-and-a-half since she started can largely be attributed to her improved confidence and comfort in doing the exercises, Enos said. Still, that confidence shouldn’t be confused with cockiness.

“She’s a very self-disciplined young lady,” Enos said. “She can do workouts right now when we’re snowed in. She’ll do them the way they’re supposed to be done, if she has questions, she’ll ask… it helps to have an athlete that’s coachable like that, that’s willing to hear the criticism to get better and has an end goal in mind.”

For now, it’s just one dual meet, Enos said, so the win can’t get to Evans’ head. For now, Evans will just focus on keeping her head down and continuing to raise the bar.