'Proud walking out of it': Calgary powerlifter cleans up, sets records at Virginia event

Sport has always been a big part of Cassidy Conaghan's life.

Growing up, she danced and was into gymnastics.

A couple of years back, Conaghan says she decided to try her hand at powerlifting.

"I lived in Lethbridge and one of my buddies suggested to a friend of mine to sign up for a meet because she was really strong," the 25-year-old said.

"He wasn't talking about me, but I kind of took it as an invitation to give it a try, so I signed up. I stuck with it and fell in love with the sport."

Conaghan isn't the biggest competitor.

She's only 4'11" (150 cm) and weighs just over 100 pounds (45.359 kg), but don't let that fool you; she's a mountain of strength.

In November, Conaghan was competing in the "100% RAW" world championship powerlifting event in Norfolk, Va., and she blew away the competition.

She ended up achieving three world records in all three of the events she competed in.

She was also named the best overall female athlete.

"I always tend to do well in meets," Conaghan said.

"I tend to hit personal records, so I wasn't really concerned. I knew my bench would be good, and my squat always performs well.

"But for my deadlift, to get into technicalities, I got an 18-pound personal best, which is really good. I didn't expect to do that, but I was definitely proud walking out of it."

Conaghan says the one thing she was most proud of at the event in Virginia is that she scored the highest among all athletes that the federation had ever seen.

"It's basically a formula based on how much weight you lift divided by your body weight," she said.

"It was really cool to set that record apart from the actual weights that I lifted."

Conaghan loves to compete and says the cheers and camaraderie are her favourite things about powerlifting.

She says she wants to move on to the International Powerlifting Federation in the future.

"Which is worldwide and a little more well-known," Conaghan said.

"I think that would be nice to compete there. There's a lot of competitors in my weight class and my age division, so I think it would push me to grow and just be a better lifter in that sense."