Heads-Lane Misses Lifts, Still Makes Olympic Team

Although Cara Heads-Lane missed on all three of her attempts in the clean and jerk at the U.S. Olympic weightlifting trials Saturday in Westwego, La., the former Costa Mesa resident still qualified for the U.S. Olympic team.

The top four women going into Saturday’s finals--Cheryl Haworth of Savannah, Ga., Tara Nott of Stillwell, Kansas, Robin Goad of Savannah and Heads-Lane--all retained their positions and qualified for the Olympics.

The trials in suburban New Orleans were the conclusion to 1 1/2 years of qualifying. The qualifying procedure included the combined results of multiple world-class competitions.

Huntington Beach’s Erin Okonek lifted the most weight at 152 pounds but missed qualifying for the Olympic team.

Shane Hamman, 28, of Mustang, Okla., and 20-year-old Oscar Chaplin III of Savannah qualified for the U.S. men’s team.

Hamman, the last lifter of the day, broke American records in the clean and jerk (507 pounds) and total lift (920 1/4 pounds) and moved past Tom Gough and Wes Barnett from fourth to second place.