Dave Rief’s phone message says it all.

Callers are greeted with a recording that says the 20-year-old Auburn High School graduate is probably either “lifting or eating.”

Although the message does not mention that Rief could also be attending classes at the University of Washington, where he is a history major, most of the time it’s spot on: Rief is usually lifting or eating.

On March 21, Rief, a weightlifter with the Calpian weightlifting club, captured second place in the 94 kilo (206.8 pounds) class at the 2009 National Junior Championships in Foster City, Calif.

Rief set personal records in both the snatch (134 kilos or 294.8 pounds) and the clean and jerk (158 kilos or 347.6 pounds) and qualified for the U.S. Junior World Weightlifting squad.

For Rief, the meet was the culmination of a year’s worth of hard work in a sport he took up in junior high school.

“I started lifting in seventh grade when I was 13,” Rief said. “My brother was going to Auburn, and he decided he didn’t like wrestling so he started weightlifting. I was complaining about not being fit, so he took me into the gym and that’s how I met John Thrush.”

Rief said he jumped right into competition and soon found that the lifestyle and discipline associated with the sport was a fit for him.

“The people, the guys I lift with, are why I keep doing it,” he said. “The sacrifices that Thrush and the other people had to make for the sport is inspiring. It’s great to be challenged. A lot of different athletes lift to get better at whatever sport they play, but it really takes a specific type of athlete to compete in this sport. It’s not a kind sport. You’re not going to have a perfect training day every day. And it’s not a question of if I get injured, but when I get injured.

“Just the whole story of Mel (Olympian and fellow Calpian, Melanie Roach) coming back from the injury is always inspiring,” Rief continued. “There is a tradition of excellence that is pretty much everywhere (at Calpian).”

Rief said that after more than five years of lifting, he decided to delay his former plan of becoming a Naval officer and concentrate on weightlifting.

“This past year my goals of being a naval officer and a future Olympian were starting to pull on me,” he said. “But I decided that I had time to become a Naval officer later. Lifting right now is my No. 1 priority.”

Currently, Rief said he works out five days a week for two-and-a-half to three hours at a shot. The rest of the time he is either catching up on his studies, sleeping or trying to ingest the amount of calories necessary to retain his mass and build muscle.

“My caloric intake plan is to eat everything and always,” he said. “Usually that’s about 4,000 to 5,000 calories a day. Pretty soon I’ll start moving up to 6,000.”

In order to prepare for the world competition, which will be conducted in Romania beginning June 14, and the U.S. Olympic trials for the 2012 Olympic games, Rief said he is enlisting the help of the same nutritionist and chiropractor Roach used.

“It just really hit me that I could go somewhere with lifting,” he said. “In the last two-and-a-half years, I’ve really started listening to the coaches and other people.”

For now, Rief is concentrating on fundraising so he can afford the trip to Romania.

“I’m really looking forward to the whole experience,” he said. “Right now we’re working on fundraising so we can go.”