Concordia Weightlifting
Head Coach: Freddie Myles (5th season)
2026 National Qualifiers (10 returners):
Men: Davontai Bell; Michael Davidge; Evan Fukuhara; Nolan Graupmann; Adrian Hernandez; Enzo Mancini; Kaiden Mima; Marcus Sweet.
Women: Harley Jane Carter; Chloe Gaspar; Taylor Hedke; Gracy Johnson; Abigail Nelson.
2026 Team National Place Finishes: men – 5th; women – 8th; co-ed – 3rd.
2026 All-Americans: Kaiden Mima (first); Evan Fukuhara (second); Taylor Hedke (fourth); Enzo Mancini (fourth).
2027 National Championships: April 15-18 in Richmond, Virginia.
Outlook
Members of the Concordia University, Nebraska Weightlifting program reported to campus for the fall semester knowing they have taken part in establishing the Bulldogs as an outfit to be reckoned with on the national stage. In back-to-back years, Head Coach Freddie Myles and company have emerged from the University National Championships with top eight team placements across the board: men, women and co-ed. Concordia’s co-ed finish of third this past spring marked a new highwater achievement for the program.
It’s been a quick rise for Bulldog Lifting Sports, which enters year No. 5 of competition. To date, the weightlifting program has celebrated three individual national championships while grabbing attention both domestically and internationally. Myles continues to press his athletes to push their boundaries in the gym.
“I think we’re really close,” Myles said. “We were only one point away from second last year, and not everyone had their best possible performance. I think they’re hungry to notch one place higher. We return the majority of the big point winners to the roster this year, and I think many of them have worked hard enough over the summer that they’re going to have a higher placing this next year.”
Concordia said goodbye to national champion and three-time All-American Evan Fukuhara, but 10 holdovers are back after experiencing the 2026 University National Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the 60 kg class, Kaiden Mima successfully defended his national championship in April and is currently gearing up for competition at the Pan American Games as a representative of the USA. Mima joins Taylor Hedke (63 kg) and Enzo Mancini (94 kg) as returning All-Americans.
A senior from Colorado Springs, Colo., Mima completely rewrote the American University record book (in the 60 kg class) at the 2026 National Championships as he muscled up for lifts of 107 kg in snatch and 137 kg in clean & jerk for a total of 244 kg. Meanwhile, the former track athlete Hedke made waves for her iron-woman efforts in garnering All-America medals in both powerlifting and weightlifting in a span of roughly 24 hours. As for Mancini, he totaled 303 kg at nationals in the process of collecting an All-America medal.
Come the spring of 2027, Mima expects to compete at 65 kg, which will allow for more a comfortable day-to-day lifestyle. Said Mima, “I've been told I'm moving up to the next weight class. I've filled out this weight class to its brim. I'm probably the leanest and strongest I've been, but I just don't have the body composition to hold this weight anymore. This will be my last competition (Pan American Games) as a 60-kilo lifter, and then I'll bump up to 65 for probably the rest of the year. I get to eat, so I'm really excited about that. I get to add a few more calories to my daily intake, and hopefully the strength will come with it.”
The work ethic of Mima sets a standard in the gym. Incremental progress could push his teammates onto the podium for the first time. Outside of the All-Americans, the group of returning national qualifiers includes Davontai Bell (71 kg), Michael Davidge (110 kg), Nolan Graupmann (110 kg) and Marcus Sweet (79 kg) on the men’s side and Chloe Gaspar (63 kg), Gracy Johnson (69 kg) and Abigail Nelson (53 kg) on the women’s side. Four of those individuals cracked the top 10 of their weight classes at nationals: Bell (10th), Davidge (sixth), Nelson (sixth) and Sweet (eighth).
Many aforementioned athletes are Concordia record holders within their weight classes for snatch, clean & jerk and total. Both Mima and Hedke possess program standards for highest Q-points score (which compares lifters across weight classes). Those records are not safe. As Mima says, “As a team, we have this coined phrase of the ‘Freddie Effect,’ and the Freddie effect is definitely a real thing. It showed at that first nationals (with an individual national title in 2025).”
Now a two-time national qualifier, the Grand Island native Chloe Gaspar gravitated towards weightlifting once she got accustomed to the unfamiliar sport. She left Salt Lake City last year unsatisfied with her 22nd-place finish at 63 kg. However, she can take pride in being part of a historic co-ed team placement while readying herself for the next opportunity.
Said Gaspar, “We worked up to that, and I think the spirit in the weight room and just in general with the whole team, along with having more team bonding, was very helpful. That was very fun. I’m very proud to be a part of this team. I’m very happy that we placed top three in co-ed.” She added, “My total has probably jumped quite a few kilos (since arriving at Concordia).”
Mima heads a star-studded senior class of four – in addition to Hedke, a graduate student. The roster also features five juniors, a sophomore and one freshman. Seniors such as Davidge, Graupmann and Johnson are seeking their fourth consecutive trips to nationals.
Myles and new assistant coach Desmond Cooney plan to expand the roster and fill up all weight classes in future years. The ultimate vision is for the Bulldogs to close the gap at the top. Lindenwood University (205 points) took the 2026 co-ed title, placing above LSU Shreveport (169 points) and Concordia (168 points).
Brick by brick, Myles has built the Bulldogs into a nationally relevant program that has yet to reach its peak. For prospective athletes, all they have to do is look at the Bulldogs’ growing list of All-Americans for inspiration. Myles tests them with one of the most grueling training programs in the country. It’s worked in the form of 13 national qualifiers in back-to-back years.
Said Myles of the returning All-Americans, “They’re doing things outside of the gym that help them get better, and they’re training throughout the whole year. That group isn’t taking time off throughout the year. They’re regularly working out and lifting weights four to five days a week, 52 weeks of the year.”
All that training is done in preparation for the 2027 USA Weightlifting University National Championships, set for April 15-18 in Richmond, Va. Thankfully, the weightlifting and powerlifting national championships won’t overlap as they did this past spring. There are both individual and team accomplishments that Concordia aspires to achieve.
Says Mima, “I want to keep pushing. I want my numbers to keep climbing. I want to be one of the best in the country. I want to be one of the best overall in the world if that's what God has planned for me.” Meanwhile, Gaspar wants to be a better leader, stating, “I feel like stepping up to that is something I want to do this year.”
Quite simply, Myles said, “I would like to see our athletes reach bigger weights than they’ve done in the past. Usually, that bears fruit with more All-Americans and higher team placings.”
The first official competition of the 2026-27 season will be the Iowa-Nebraska State Weightlifting Championships in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Oct. 24. The complete schedule can be found HERE.