Credit: U.P. Catholic/CNA Will Heller, a 21-year-old from Toledo, Ohio, is a two-time Junior National Medallist and All American, a state record holder in Ohio and Michigan, and the 2023 University National Champion in the 102 kilogram class in weightlifting. However, the weightlifting phenom now has his sights on a more soul-intensive goal – becoming a Catholic priest.
At the age of 17, Mr Heller was introduced to the sport of weightlifting by his high school strength and conditioning coach. He quickly excelled in the sport and earned a plethora of achievements, including being invited to represent Team USA in the 2022 and 2024 FISU America Games, the 2023 U20 Pan-American Championships, and the 2023 U20 World Championships.
Weightlifting consists of two lifts: the clean and jerk and the snatch. Heller shared in an interview with CNA that his heaviest weight for each is a 324-pound snatch and a 388-pound clean and jerk.
A recent graduate of Northern Michigan University, Mr Heller is a cradle Catholic and attended 13 years of Catholic school – the first seven at a diocesan school and the last six at a school run by the Oblates of St Francis de Sales.
“I can’t say I was ever much of a practising Catholic,” he admitted. “I went to Mass on Sunday but I didn’t go to adoration ever. I didn’t really pray the rosary. I went to one of those schools that was kind of Catholic in name … So I actually fell away from the faith when I got up to Northern.”
Now, thanks to a FOCUS missionary he met while in college, he will be entering the St Paul Seminary in Minnesota at the end of August.