Updated: Beaufort’s CJ Cummings competes this week at Youth Pan Am games in Mexico

Update: C.J. Cummings will lift at 3 p.m. Thursday. There will be no live streaming or webcast.

For the most part, C.J. Cummings is not all that different than most 10th-graders.

He’s doing well in school, studying biology, driver’s education and Spanish, the subject he said he enjoys most. And he likes to hang around and have fun with kids his age.

That’s where the 15-year-old Beaufort High School sophomore is a little different than his classmates.

Cummings is the ninth-ranked male weightlifter in America.

That’s not a junior ranking.

Or a youth ranking.

That’s his men’s ranking.

And that means he competes with a lot of adults. And he beats them, too.

That’s what he did last month at the USA Weightlifting National Championships in Dallas.

Cummings shattered several national records to win the men’s national championship for the 69-kilogram weight class. The lifter he edged out was 12 years his senior.

But this week, he’ll get a chance to hang out with his contemporaries for a change.

Cummings and Team Beaufort coach Ray Jones left Monday afternoon for the 2015 Youth Pan American Championships being held Tuesday through Sunday in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

“Going to Mexico is going to be fun for him,” Jones said. “He’s hanging around kids his age.”

Not that he’s had any trouble hanging out with the grown-ups. But Cummings said he tries to address all his meets with consistency.

“It’s not the same, but I try to keep it the same,” Cummings said. “I just try to go out there and have fun and do the best that I can.”

But just because he’s hanging out with the younger crowd this time around doesn’t mean it’s all fun and games. There are some things on the line.

The top eight American men make Team USA for the IWF World Championships to be held Nov. 20 through 28 in Houston, Texas. Six lifters are already locked in.

Earning one of the final two spots and competing at the World Championships would be a big experience for Cummings, not to mention a boost for any potential Olympic hopes he may have for the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.

Jones said that doesn’t change their approach this week, however.

“We’re going to go there, and if he’s having a great day, we’re going to break records,” Jones said. “Personal records, world records.”

Jones said Cummings will lift at 3 p.m. EDT Thursday.

No matter how he performs though, in Jones eyes, Cummings has already achieved a lot.

“He’s got great character. He does the right thing. He works hard. He’s humble,” Jones said. “That’s the big thing. Especially with his youth and all the negative things with kids these days.

“What he’s doing with lifting, it’s off the charts.”

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 9:51 AM with the headline "Updated: Beaufort’s CJ Cummings competes this week at Youth Pan Am games in Mexico."