vanessa gagnon(Submitted) The Ontario Weightlifting Association‘s 2016 Scholastic Challenge will be staged at Canadore College‘s Commerce Court campus this Saturday.

There will be five sessions of lifting, three for females and two for males.

Nearly 60 athletes will compete for medals and best placings in various weight categories. Also up for grabs are the annual provincial pennants for the top College/University and High School teams.

The competition for the team awards will be very close.

The College University pennant goes to the top scoring five lifters from a school. Based on numbers alone, Nipissing University, Laurentian University, and Canadore College are favoured.

On the High School side, the pennant goes the top four scoring lifters from a squad. In the running are: Lo-Ellen Park of Sudbury, St. Joseph-Scollard Hall, and ESC Algonquin, both from North Bay.

Local athletes to watch include: Jenni Sundin and Vanessa Gagnon (pictured) of Nipissing University.

Sundin is a nationally ranked lifter from Sweden who is studying at Nipissing; she will compete in the opening session of lifting in female 63 kilo class.

Gagnon, the reigning Ontario junior champions and the silver medalist at the recent Canadian Junior finals, will lift in the female 75 kilo class at the end of the day.

The contest gets under way at 9.00 a.m. with the lighter female divisions. The lighter males lift at 11:00 a.m., and the female grouping – 63B and 69B goes at 1:00 p.m. The males, 85 kilos and above, go at 3:00 p.m., followed by the female classes of 69 kilos A, 75 kilos and + 75 kilos, at 5:00 p.m.