Mainland’s Deirdre Lenzsch to Represent USA at Youth World Weightlifting Championships [VIDEO]

It's hard to ignore Deirdre Lenzsch.  The Mainland High School sophomore has been making headlines and breaking down barriers pretty much all her life.

The 16-year-old from Somers Point was a grade school chess champion, a certified scuba diver, and had starred in the school play, all by age 12.

But its her abilities in sports predominantly played by boys that catches the most attention.  Lenzsch played on the eighth grade lacrosse team as a fifth-grader and then went on to be an all-star linebacker while playing with boys in the Atlantic County Junior Football League.

Then Deirdre took up weightlifting. Within months  of beginning the sport, Lenzsch was top-ranked in the nation for girls 13 and under.

Three years later, Deirdre Lenzsch, who trains long and hard at Egg Harbor Township's Oceanside Wellness and Sport, is readying to leave Sunday for Tashkent, Uzbekistan to compete in the Youth World Weightlifting Championships.

She has already been the youngest to compete at the American Open and Senior Weightlifting Nationals, and a Junior Olympic champion, setting a national record by lifting 81 kilos (178 pounds) in the "snatch" portion of that competition.

Lenzsch goes into next week's World Championships as the top-ranked member of the United States team of 13 wrestlers, boy or girl.  And, yes, she definitely has her eye on competing in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.  Told you...Deirdre Lenzsch is hard to ignore.

Good luck to Deirdre in Uzbekistan!  Here is some vintage footage of her lifting in 2010.