After repeated success on the national and international stage, UT’s Weightlifting team approaches its tenth birthday. Despite humble beginnings, the team has soared to unimaginable heights and shows no sign of letting up anytime soon. In fact, this year’s roster is more promising than ever.
FROM CHALK DUST TO CHAMPIONS
In the spring of 2016, UT student and former Marine David Griffin saw an opportunity.
For years, Griffin had been training with the Olympic lifts on his own while on base in California—snatches, cleans, jerks. Not long after he moved to Austin, he found himself a coach and began competing. By the time he had enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin, Griffin had taken to coaching the sport himself.
But Griffin wanted more. He scoured HornsLink for anything and everything weightlifting, but to his dismay, all he could find was powerlifting—squats, deadlifts, and bench press. And despite their similar names, powerlifting was an entirely different ballpark. While both built strength, it was the technical precision and explosive speed of Olympic lifting that UT lacked and Griffin sought. Did young students simply have no interest in competitive weightlifting?
Following his first semester at the university sans weightlifting team, Griffin headed to Reno, Nevada, to coach his first national meet: The American Open. It was there that he noticed Hassle Free Barbell, a vast team of young and spry lifters that operated out of a high school in San Francisco. If they could gather a mighty team and fight their way into a competition against the best lifters in the country, the former Marine had no doubt that a school with over forty thousand undergrads could develop a promising team. Without a moment to spare, the paperwork began on the plane ride home.
With the sponsorship of Dr. Beckwith, who was herself a three-time national collegiate powerlifting champion working in UT’s Kinesiology department, the Texas Weightlifting Team was born. Numbers climbed slowly in the first two years. It wasn’t so much a functioning “team” as it was a group of like-minded lifters who trained together at Hyde Park Gym. But in time, the foundation was laid.
Despite David Griffin leaving UT in 2018, the team’s progress exploded. Texas Barbell Club opened its doors that same year under the skillful management of Griffin and his coach, Ursula Papandrea. Now, with their own space to breed collaboration and competition, an official wave of tryouts, a new president, and utilization of the school’s fundraising channels, there was nowhere to go but up.
This spring, it will have been ten years since the team’s creation. With the help of David’s wife and coaching partner, Cari Griffin, UT’s incredible weightlifting team has secured a plethora of medals in meets at every level. Since 2021, they’ve held the title of Men’s U25 National Champion, and the Women’s team has been crowned U25 National Champion in 2021, 2022, and 2024, respectively, while still standing strong at third place in 2025.
As for favorite moments, David Griffin cites many. At the 2022 University Nationals, Brie Gomez went six for six and secured her spot on an international team. In 2021, Blake Gamez triumphed after clutching his third clean and jerk, winning the American Open Finals. And of course, at 2024’s National U25 meet, Victor Delgado managed a tiebreaking “do-or-die” third clean and jerk, Griffin called it, preserving the men’s national team title another year.
ANYONE CAN LIFT!
Although the sport can seem daunting to those unfamiliar with it, the coaches proudly assure that they “take students of all ages, abilities, and experience levels.” Of the thirty-seven members who have participated in national competitions, only six had ever competed before university. Additionally, out of all sixty-two national and international medals UT Weightlifting has won, over 50% have been earned by those who never lifted before.
With flexible scheduling and personalized regimens, both coaches meet you where you are. The team is eager to accept lifters from all backgrounds and build them up into powerful performance athletes. In fact, this diversity, progress, and community are some of Coach Griffin’s favorite aspects of the team.
No one exemplifies the journey from rookie to regional medalist better than the UT Weightlifting’s current president, Melody Rodriguez.
“One of my biggest regrets in high school was that I never did a sport, so I knew I wanted to join a sports club in college,” she said. “I used to be very shy my freshman year … (however) I have met all kinds of people, which forced me to open up … I am continuously learning how to overcome my failures and still showing up even if I don’t feel my best.”
Rodriguez credits the team for her physical and social growth. Over three years of membership, the gym’s lively, supportive environment encouraged her to open up, introducing her to all sorts of new people who would soon become friends.
THE FUTURE OF TEXAS WEIGHTLIFTING
Just as its members have evolved, so too has the team. From rocky beginnings to a stream of triumphant years that brought both success and a new, vibrant atmosphere to the gym, now the team finds itself more youthful than ever. For the first time, the team contains over a dozen underclassmen. With this new generation of athletes, Griffin can’t wait for the development of so many new faces in and out of the gym. With perpetual support from friends, family, and alumni, UT Weightlifting is anything but slowing down.
“Many of the tangible goals that were set back in 2016 have been accomplished. The team has been very successful, won a dozen national team trophies, won over 60 national medals, and featured All-Americans.” Coach David Griffin said. “But what never could have been imagined way back when, are the faces of the people who would do all those things … Any time I question how much longer do I want to own a weightlifting gym in Austin, Texas, we get a new freshmen class filled with exceptional young people brimming with potential … that reignites a desire to keep pouring time into making each members efforts on the team worthwhile both in the gym and beyond.”