Sault Ste. Marie’s Erica Schryer didn’t expect to win anything when she recently took part in a national crossfit competition earlier this month.
But the 17-year-old Korah Collegiate and Vocational School student ended up on the podium during the 2022 Atlas Games in Montreal, earning a first-place finish in the girls 15-18 age category.
“It’s a huge step for me because it was only my second in-person competition, and my last one was in 2019, because COVID shut everything down,” said Schryer, speaking with SooToday Thursday. “To place first in a Canada-wide competition…it was pretty big.
“It was a pretty big competition because it was actually a semi-final event for the older age group to make it to the Crossfit Games, so I was competing with some of the best athletes in the sport.”
Schryer trained at Triple River Crossfit in Three Rivers, Mich. leading up to the Atlas Games, receiving a scholarship for a crossfit training camp there along with an opportunity to continue training in Michigan after the camp wrapped up.
“No matter what level of fitness you are, they support you. Everybody helps each other,” she said of her time training in the United States.
Hele Fitness, a gym and crossfit equipment company, paid for the majority of her trip to the Atlas Games and sent her free equipment for her home gym, while Sault-based business Health Gear Medical and Safety provided her with funding to travel to Michigan in order to train.
When she’s back home in the Sault, Schryer trains for crossfit two hours a day, six days a week in the gym her parents built for her at home.
The soon-to-be high school graduate will now set her sights on competing in the 8th Annual Indepence Games, a partner-based competition at The Pit Fitness Ranch in Three Rivers, June 25th.
“I just love the way it makes me feel,” Schryer said when asked why she’s drawn to crossfit. “You see a workout and it intimidates you at first, and then go into it and you end up doing way better than you thought.”