DULUTH, Ga. &045; Greensboro native Demi Davis has done something that will go down in the record books, literally. Davis set a new national dead lift record by hoisting 341 pounds at the United States of America Power Lifting Southern States Championship.

Another amazing fact to this achievement is that Davis, 15, is only in the ninth grade. She also broke the previous record, 336 pounds in the 132-pound weight class for 14 and 15-year-olds, in her second competition with USAPL.

A student at Southern Academy, Davis said she had worked out in the gym at school to train for sports prior to getting into the competitive side of lifting. She said she enjoyed it and a weight lifting meet the school competed in gave her a taste of winning in competition.

Though Davis was interested in furthering her competitive side of the sport she didn’t have and outlet other than the school’s competitions to stack her skills against others. That is until one night she and her family came across a news story that allowed her to delve further into the sport.

She said the story showed her and her family that there were outlets for competition outside of the high school arena and she asked her father to look into it.

Ritchie Davis said after doing research they decided to try and get into USAPL because of the reputation the group had of maintaining a clean sport. He said all athletes competing with the group are screened for performance enhancing drugs and he thought the natural approach would prove the best for his young daughter should she pursue the sport.

Competing in Duluth, Davis not only set a new record but she also walked way with the third overall in the women’s open of the event and first place in the teen 14 to 15-year-old division.