USAWA

By Sanjiv Gupta

In the spirit of building camaraderie and connection, the following is my personal meet report.

I am not particularly fond of traveling, but the National Championship is a big deal.  Nisha and I flew into St. Louis Friday morning and made our way to Columbia after picking up a rental car.  Travel was surprisingly easy and I even had time for a short nap before heading to dinner.

Bill Clark and the entire Clark’s Gym family always create a welcoming atmosphere and the staff at D. Rowe’s has been serving excellent pulled pork for a long time.  I was glad to see the National Meeting was well attended with (21) members in attendance and several others sending discussion notes with other members.  With the USAWA President unavailable, I did my best to preside over the meeting.  I would like to think everybody felt heard.

One day competitions are tough.  I never sleep well and am always very conservative with my openers. I tend to relax and get more aggressive as competition unfolds.  Lifting was loosely broken up into three flights with Nisha and Logan lifting together, Neveah, Christian, Tony, Everett, Jessica and Allison lifting together and finally Larry, Abe, Jayden, Drew, Jeff, Riley, Jarrod, Chad, Phil and I lifting together.  Rising bar was waived and everybody did 1^st attempts, followed by 2^nd attempts and ultimately 3^rd attempts.  No fourth attempts were given.

I enjoyed watching Nisha lift but was not a very good lifting parent and did not capture any of her age group, ALL or NAT record lifts.  I was extremely impressed by the poise all of the junior lifters showed.  Neveah was constantly surprising me with great numbers for any athlete, but especially so for a 14-year old.  Jayden had some miscues on early attempts, but ended up putting together a remarkable 1066 total that was good for 3^rd place against a stacked men’s field.  Everett brought his A-game as usual.  His best lift had to be the 235-pound Jefferson Lift.  The younger Wenzels (Logan and Dylan) were impressive as well, but it is hard for me to gauge 13 and under lifting.  My kids did not start until high school.

The women put on an amazing show.  With the sure handed guidance of Larry, both Neveah and Christian set up well, took smart attempts and left their best on the platform.  Jessica is a seasoned lifter and competed well despite not having the Frank’s Barbell Club crew supporting her from the sidelines.  Allison could practically be considered a newcomer having only competed for a few years, but she always brings her best effort the platform.

The men’s field was stacked as usual.  Larry defended his title with consistent, textbook lifts.  Abe is a past National Champion as well and brought his best lifts to take second place.  Drew was an incredible athlete setting records across the board in the 125+ class.  I was relieved to not be loading for this flight.  Jeff Wenzel is the athlete of the year for the past two years and proved again why he is one of the best, taking 5^th overall.  Riley had an impressive day as one of the lighter bodyweight men in the field.  Riley put up a 350 pound Jefferson Lift, which rivaled men who outweighed him by 70 pounds.  I was so excited that Jarrod could come to Nationals.  I always enjoy our conversations and lifting in the friendly confines of my garage, but there is still magic on the platform.  He was aggressive with his attempts, as usual, finishing with an outstanding 932 pound total.  I was really glad Chad could make it out and lift despite a recent shoulder surgery.  Tony was pulling double duty, keeping score and competing.  He had excellent lifts across the board.  When I have tried to be meet director, score keeper and athlete, I have had little success.  Phil Marlin is an amazing athlete who unfortunately scratched the Deadlift, No Thumbs, Overhand Grip.  His 505 pound Jefferson Lift was the second highest of the day and a testament to what his future performances will hold.

Personally, I went 11 for 12 on the platform.  My 305 pound Deadlift, No Thumb Overhand grip was a personal best.  I was super excited to Clean & Press 135 pounds.  Heels together never seems like much of a challenge, except when I am waiting for a down command.  The Lateral Raise is an OK lift for me, but it does put strain on the shoulders when performed correctly.  Finally, my 345-pound Jefferson Lift was the only lift where I could not set a record.  Larry Traub will continue to hold it at 529 pounds.

After the competition, everybody chipped in to move equipment out to the trucks, take pictures and say goodbyes.  Nisha and I went out for a nice lunch and did some shopping and then settled in for the night having to drive back to St. Louis in the morning for our flight home.

Our Lady of Lourdes was a great venue and I was very relieved that there was not any damage as a result of the warm-up and competition areas.

I am looking forward to next year’s National Championship that will be hosted by Ledaig Heavy Athletics in Kansas.   

Please consider generating meet reports or putting together notes from training sessions and submitting them to usawasec@gmail.com for publication on the website.

Look up ‘leadership’ in the dictionary and you’ll find “the action of leading a group of people or an organization”. This describes the Women’s 2026 USAWA Leadership Award winner, Jessica Hopps. She’s a competitor in any meet or quarterlies and has a couple meet wins this year, including the Second for Women Only meet back in May. She’s currently 9^th overall in USAWA women’s division records with 157. She even made the 1000+ mile trip to Columbia MO to compete at the 2026 USAWA Nationals. She’s also won USAWA Lifter of the Month. And in August of 2026, she will be inducted into the New England All Round Weightlifting Hall of Fame. But, there’s much more to Jessica than her athletic ability. To me a leader is someone who gives their time and energy to their unit without asking for anything in return. Jessica loves working with and challenging people and is very good at it. And the Frank’s Barbell Club members appreciate all she does for them. “She takes care of all of us with our lifting needs and paperwork, I can’t say enough about her”. She brings to the Club the great atmosphere that made Frank’s one of the club of the year winners last year. They all agree she is deserving. And she does all that while working a great many hours in her day jobs, one of which is serving the mental health community in the Boston area and the other is teaching at a local college in the same area. Congratulations to Jessica Hopps our Women’s 2026 USAWA Leadership Award winner.   

Posted by Tony Lupo – Written by Jeff Wenzel, Meet Director

We came up with the 250 Challenge after I had heard another gym was challenging people to bench 250 lb.  I pitched a crazy idea to Abe Smith and Tony Lupo, and instead of telling me I was crazy, they added layers of more insanity.  We consulted with Bill Clark, Sanjiv Gupta, and others on how this could be presented to the USAWA.  

The final product was simple, each person find a way to celebrate the 250 years of the USA in their own unique way, and boy did you all ever deliver!!!  I am so grateful to this family of lifters who took this crazy idea and made it a great!

Although I would bet this event resulted in the most raw weight ever lifted in a USAWA event, it is the stories that go with these lifts that really make this event special to me.  Please allow me to share a few while announcing placement.

First women:

In 4th place is Lisa Gore.  Lisa came into the gym with the intent to set a few records. Some illnesses had kept her away for a few months, so she wanted to ease back into gym life. In typical Bill Clark fashion, he asked Lisa to do a few reps of 250 lb Hip Lifts.  A few reps turned into 100 which turned into 250 reps. And then she did 50 more for good measure.

Third goes to Allison Lupo.  Allison was the only individual brave enough to do 250 reps of bench press. And she added the extra difficulty by doing it with feet in the air.  250 reps of 15 lbs in 29 minutes!

Second place goes to RJ Jackson.  She turned in an impressive 250 lb Lurich Lift!  

First place goes to Jessica Hopps.  Jessica completed 250 reps on the Hip Lift at 250 lbs in under 10 minutes!  

Men:

Third place goes to Bill Clark. Bill came into the gym to count my reps.  My plan was to do 10 rounds of sets of 5 on 5 different lifts.  After the second round, Bill informed me that he was not spotting me on the bench nor going to be in any hurry to call for help.  During the third set, Bill said he was going to join me.  Bill hadn’t competed in over a year, but he knocked out 250 reps of 250 lbs in the Hip Lift within 30 minutes.

Second is Abe Smith. Abe came in with the plan to do drop sets and alternate between Trap Bar Deadlift and the Hack Lift.  After 100 reps, he texted me and said ‘this is harder than I thought’.  But he stuck through and finished in just over 100 minutes.

First is Randy Smith. Randy did 250 Hip Lift reps with 250 lbs in under 250 seconds! Impressive, but he didn’t stop there.  He said that went easier than expected, so what about 250 kg?  He did this in under 500 seconds, but is pushing to do it in under 250 seconds. 

Top gym honors goes to Frank’s Barbell Club.  They had 5 entries with most doing 250 Hip Lift reps with 525 lb or 250 lb.  That means each of them moved over 60 tons!!!

While the challenge is complete, I welcome you to continue to share your stories.  I have heard from a few that they plan to retry with a different approach.  I will plan to do the same as soon as Missouri weather cools down. Send your stories to: Jeff at: hzwst27@aol.com.

The Results: USAWA American 250th Birthday Challenge