15 Set to Compete at Senior Pan American Championships in Colombia

COLORADO SPRINGS – Fifteen United States weightlifters are set to take the platform in Cali, Colombia, July 12-18 for the 2025 Senior Pan American Championships. The U.S. team features a plethora of world-class athletes, including the entire Paris Olympic team plus Tokyo 2020 Olympian Mattie Rogers. The full team has earned 13 collective Senior Pan Am total titles in their careers. Competition will run at the Miguel Calero Inline Hockey Coliseum, with streaming expected via the Pan American Federation’s YouTube Channel.

THE TEAM

Men:

Gabe Chhum (60 kg)

Hampton Morris (65 kg)

Caden Cahoy (79 kg)

Edward Ginnan (79 kg)

Wes Kitts (94 kg)

Kolbi Ferguson (110 kg)

Aaron Williams (+110 kg)

Women:

Jourdan Delacruz (53 kg)

Miranda Ulrey (58 kg)

Katie Estep (63 kg)

Olivia Reeves (69 kg)

Mattie Rogers (77 kg)

Anna McElderry (77 kg)

Kayla Kass (86 kg)

Mary Theisen-Lappen (+86 kg)

BY THE NUMBERS (Senior Pan Am Championships appearances, total titles)

Mattie Rogers (8, 2)

Wes Kitts (6, 3)

Jourdan Delacruz (4, 3)

Hampton Morris (3, 3)

Mary Theisen-Lappen (2, 2)

Caden Cahoy (1, 0)

Olivia Reeves (1, 0)

THE OLYMPIANS

The 61kg Olympic bronze medalist from Paris 2024, Hampton Morris, has competed in three Senior Pan American Championships – 2021, 2022, 2023 – and claimed overall gold each time. The race to four crowns is tight, as Wes Kitts and Jourdan Delacruz also have three Pan American Championships titles under their belts. Mary Theisen-Lappen, like Morris, has a perfect record at the Senior Pan Ams, with two titles in two appearances. Mattie Rogers will make her team-leading ninth appearance at the event, and could claim her third championship crown and eighth podium. Olivia Reeves will look to add a Senior Pan Am title to her resumé following a busy 2024 that saw her claim Team USA’s first Olympic gold medal in 24 years and first Senior World Championships title since 2019. Reeves has finished at the top of the podium for three consecutive international competitions and went undefeated in all competitions in 2024.

NEW FACES

Caden Cahoy is the only non-Olympian with prior Senior Pan American experience on the team. After winning 73kg gold at both the 2024 Junior World Championships and Junior Pan American Championships, the young star is looking to add more senior hardware to his belt. Cahoy did claim a bronze in the clean & jerk at the 2023 Senior Pan Ams. At the 2024 Senior World Championships, Cahoy finished sixth overall and recently put together a 150kg snatch and 200kg C&J at National Team camp in April.

A majority (8 out of 15) of this year’s team will be making their Senior Pan American Championships debut. That’s Gabe Chhum, Edward Ginnan, Kolbi Ferguson, Aaron Williams, Miranda Ulrey, Katie Estep, Anna McElderry, and Kayla Kass. For Chhum, Ulrey, Estep, and McElderry, the Senior Pan Ams will just be a step-up from the junior event that they’re all used to. Ginnan, Ferguson, Williams, and Kass, on the other hand, will add this to their short list of international competitions. All four were a part of the United States’ 2024 Senior World Championships team in Manama, Bahrain (2024 Worlds Results).

LAST TIME OUT

After choosing to attend the European Championships in 2024 due to safety concerns, this year will be a return to the senior continental championships after a record-setting 2023. With 20 athletes in Bariloche, Argentina, the United States set nearly every national record for a Senior Pan American Championships. They raked in 45 medals from two gold and three silver medal sweeps, eight champions, and six runners-up. For the first time, the sum total of U.S. athletes was higher than the sum total of non-U.S. athletes in each category. For example, Hampton Morris and Jourdan Delacruz won their categories and beat the highest total of a non-American by six and 16 kilograms, respectively. This equaled a 22 kilogram lead on the overall competition, while second- and third-place finishes from Kate Vibert and Olivia Reeves by zero and one kilogram, respectively, only brought that lead down to 21. The United States finished 23 kilograms ahead of competition.

KEEP THE STREAK

The United States has collected 20 or more medals in seven-consecutive Senior Pan American Championships dating back to 2017. Prior to that year, Americans had not brought back 20 or more medals since 2001. With the new weight categories, countries are limited to 16 athletes as opposed to the previous 20. 2017-18 had the same 16-athlete limit.

DIVIDE AND CONQUER

In 2023, the United States had seven categories with two athletes – with 11 out of those 14 athletes finishing on the podium, and three of those categories having Americans go 1-2 at the top. In 2025, only four athletes are in the same categories. This change opens five more opportunities to crown American champions, and 15 more opportunities for gold medals.

MEDAL UP

Only three times has the U.S. crossed the 40-medal line at Senior Pan Ams – 2019 (44), 2020 (40), and 2023 (45). In 2019 and 2023, they also posted the only 20+ gold medal performances with 22 and 20, respectively.

Team USA Schedule

All times local to Cali, Colombia (GMT-5)

July 13

2:00 p.m. - 60kg Gabe Chhum

July 14

2:00 p.m. - 53kg Jourdan Delacruz

4:00 p.m. - 65kg Hampton Morris

6:00 p.m. - 58kg Miranda Ulrey

July 15

4:00 p.m. - 63kg Katie Estep

6:00 p.m. - 79kg Caden Cahoy, Edward Ginnan

July 16

2:00 p.m. - 69kg Olivia Reeves

6:00 p.m. - 77kg Mattie Rogers, Anna McElderry

July 17

2:00 p.m. - 94kg Wes Kitts

4:00 p.m. - 86kg Kayla Kass

6:00 p.m. - 110kg Kolbi Ferguson

July 18

12:00 p.m. - +110kg Aaron Williams2:00 p.m. - +86kg Mary Theisen-Lappen