HICKORY, N.C. – Lenoir-Rhyne has announced that Travis Mash has been hired to become the first head men's and women's weightlifting coach in program history. The Bears announced the addition of weightlifting as a club sport last week which will begin competition in 2020-21.

"I am so excited to join the Lenoir-Rhyne University family," said Mash. "This is going to be my legacy for the sport of weightlifting. We are going to create the best university weightlifting program in America with three goals for our athletes. One is for them to graduate as better men and women. Two is for them to graduate with a functional degree and a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Three is for them to become the best possible weightlifters that they are capable of becoming."

Mash has created one of the best weightlifting clubs in America and has produced 23 Team USA athletes since 2015. As the head coach of Mash Mafia Weightlifting, Mash has been the Team USA Head Coach at the Junior Pan American, Junior Worlds and Youth Pan American Championships. In 2019 alone, he developed three Senior World Team Members, two Junior Pan American Team Members and qualified a Junior World team member as well as three Youth Pan American team members. Additionally, he qualified two Senior Pan American Games team members, one Senior Pan American Championships team member and two Youth World team members.

As the owner of Mash Elite Performance Athletic Performance & Online, Mash has authored 22 EBooks and his strength and conditioning program has produced hundreds of Division I athletes as well as multiple professional athletes including Tommy Bohanon, former starting fullback for the Jacksonville Jaguars and John Abbate, former linebacker for the Houston Texans.

"Travis brings tremendous experience not only on the national but also on the international level," said Associate Athletic Director Aaron Brock. "We plan to develop one of the top collegiate weightlifting programs in the country. Coach Mash will provide an incredible athletic experience while also instilling a programmatic culture that will ensure the total development of our student-athletes."

Mash earned his bachelor's from Appalachian State in 1995 where he was a member of the football team. Since 2016, Mash has been the USAW Senior International Coach, the only one to hold that role in the state of North Carolina.

LR is the 37th university level team to offer weightlifting. The teams will compete in USAW-sanctioned events and allow athletes to qualify for the USAW University National Championships, as well as additional championship events.