Author Archives: Al Myers

NEW CENTURY CLUB MEMBER

By Al Myers

An updated record list is now available on the website.  It’s been a few months with several comps so there has been alot of additions. I want to thank Scottish Johnny for his help in getting this list updated.  He’s been my assistant lately with the record list and his help has been much appreciated.

The BIG NEWS this time is the addition of a new CENTURY CLUB member.   Longtime USAWA member Jeff Ciavattone made the list – with a now standing 103 USAWA Records.  Big congrats to Jeff on this.  Jeff has records going back to his teenage years in the USAWA so this is an accomplishment he has worked long and hard at.

The Womens Century Club has been unchanged, with RJ still at the top with 292 records.  Denny Habecker continues to build his lead in the Mens Century Club with 622 USAWA Records. The biggest record mover this time around is LaVerne Myers, who added 18 records to his listing. LaVerne now stands in 10th place overall, passing Bob Hirsh.

I really hate to see people fall out of the Century Club.  But that will happen if some of your records get broken and you haven’t been setting new ones to offset it.  This time Dave Glasgow slipped out of the club listing and is setting at 98 records.  I will have to encourage Dave to get back after it and set some new records so he can get back in the century club!!

Now who’s going to be next in the Century Club?  I predicted Jeff was going to make it several months ago, so I’m pretty confident in my ability to make this prediction.   So here it goes – I predict Aidan Habecker will be the first teenager to make it.   I also am going to put my money on Scottish Johnny.  He has been tearing up the records this past year and is moving up his count faster than most realize.  I predict both will be the Century Club by the end of the year. So guys – don’t let me down!!

Team Championships

By Al Myers

MEET RESULTS –

2019 USAWA TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

Dean Ross and LaVerne Myers pulling a BIG 2 man Fulton Bar Deadlift at the 2019 Team Championships. Both of these guys are over 75 years of age!!!

Dean Ross and LaVerne Myers pulling a BIG 2 man Fulton Bar Jefferson Lift at the 2019 Team Championships. Both of these guys are over 75 years of age and are a formidable team lifting duo !!!

The USAWA Team Champs may not have been a large meet this year, but it made up for that in the heated battle between the two teams that were there!

I was a little concerned that my teammate Chad might be worn out from his heavy lifting the day before at the OTSM Champs in Missouri, and not be at full strength.  I also was very aware of the venerable veteran due of LaVerne and Dean, and how they had been training secretly together to knock us off our throne this year. Chad and I have won the overall at 10 previous Team Championships together and have not been beaten yet, but all streaks come to an end eventually. I was concerned that this might be that year.  Both Dean and LaVerne seemed very confident before the meet, and Dean even made a boisterous comment how they were gonna take us down!  Plus I knew since the USAWA adopted the IAWA scoring format this year they were gonna get an additional 10% to their total points.

Dean and LaVerne had the lead through the first 3 lifts.   I was hopeful that we would catch them on the no thumbs deadlift, but that didn’t happen. It got tense at one point when pops told me to quit checking the point status with the calculator, as he knew we would have the last attempt with the fulton bar Jefferson and I would know how much we needed! Well, it took all we had to get our final lift for the win! (and of course I knew how much we needed to lift haha).  Dean even tried to stop us just as we got ready to lift by saying he wanted to get his camera out to take a picture as he was hoping to throw us off our pre-lift psyche.  That’s a master sly trick only done by a wily seasoned lifter who knows how to play “head games” with his competition.

This was the closest finish in Team Championship history.  Dean and LaVerne will pick up an additional percent next year so Chad and I may have to do a little secret training ourselves if we are to stay ahead of them.  It was a great day at the Dino Gym, and after the meet we did several finger lift records for the fun of it. I really want to encourage others to join us next year for this Championships.  It’s truly one of the most enjoyable meets I do every year in the USAWA.

Meet Results:

2019 USAWA Team Championships
Dino Gym
Holland, KS
September 8th, 2019

Meet Director: Al Myers

Scorekeeper: Al Myers

Officials (1-Official System Used): Al Myers & LaVerne Myers

Lifts: Curl- Strict Reverse Grip, Snatch – From Hang, Deadlift – No Thumbs Overhand Grip, Jefferson Lift – Fulton Bar

MENS DIVISION

Al Myers & Chad Ullom – 45+ Age Group 105KG BWT Class
Al Myers (53 Years Old, 228# BWT) & Chad Ullom (47 Years Old, 228# BWT)

LaVerne Myers & Dean Ross – 75+ Age Group 110KG BWT Class
LaVerne Myers (75 Years Old, 230# BWT) & Dean Ross (76 Years Old, 235# BWT)

Lifters Curl Snatch DLNT Jeff TOT PTS
Al & Chad 175 175 700 800 1850 1662.7
LaVerne & Dean 150 150 550 520 1370 1638.4

Notes: All lifts recorded in pounds. TOT is total pounds lifted.  PTS are overall amended points corrected for age and bodyweight.

RECORD DAY LIFTS AFTER THE MEET

Dean Ross – 76 years old, 235# BWT
Finger Lift – Middle, Left 131#
Finger Lift – Middle, Right 131#

Chad Ullom – 47 years old, 228# BWT
Finger Lift – Middle, Right 95#
Finger Lift – Middle, Left 95#

LaVerne Myers – 75 years old, 230# BWT
Finger Lift – Middle, Left 95#
Finger Lift – Middle, Right 95#
Finger Lift – Index, Left 95#
Finger Lift – Index, Right 95#
Finger Lift – Ring, Left 85#

World Postal Championships

2019 IAWA World Postal Championships

“The Andy Goddard Memorial” August 31st, 2019

Lifts: Reverse Curl, 2H Snatch from Hang, 1H Clean & Jerk, 2H Thumbless Deadlift

 MEET REPORT, BY PROMOTER AL MYERS

Another great year for the IAWA World Postal Championships!!

This year we had 44 lifters compete from the United States, Australia, England, Scotland and Canada. This World Postal Championships is one of three (with the World Championships and the Gold Cup being the other two) promoted by IAWA.   I want to REALLY thank all those that participated. Your participation is what makes this a great event!  As per the tradition the past few years, the lifts of the first day Worlds were contested.  I’ve included all class winners and best lifters, individual overall rankings for men and women, 3 person team rankings, and club rankings.

I want to give special mention to the overall winners in each category.  The Overall Best Men’s Lifter was GARY ELL, and the Overall Best Women’s Lifter was MADDY ELL.  The Overall Best 3-person Team went to the DINO GYM VARSITY (Al Myers, LaVerne Myers, and John Douglas).  The Overall Best Club went to BURTON POWERHOUSE (Karen Gardner, Paul Hallam, Dominic Gardner, Mollie Redfern-Smith, Graham Saxton, Gary Redfern-Smith, Steve Gardner, Selina Dorn, Nicola Thornhill). I scored a new category this year – the best overall association.  The Overall Best Association went to the IAWAUK, with the USAWA in second, and the newly formed Australian Association the ARWFA was in third.

It was exciting to see 3 clubs participating from Australia this year (Ballina, The Shed, and the Lambda Lifters). For the lifters of the Ballina Club this was their first time participating in the World Postal.  There were several Junior Lifters competing this year with the youngest, Phoebe Todd, at nine years of age. The oldest lifters in the meet where Dean Ross and Denny Habecker at 76 years of age. The best club name goes to the MacBaldie Brothers consisting of Gary Ell and Andy Tomlin. I also want to mention Sylvia Stockall of Canada.  She competed as an exhibition lifter since her club does not have a certified IAWA official yet, but turned in great lifts and becomes the first lifter from Canada to compete in the IAWA World Postal Championships.

Again, I want to thank everyone for entering this meet and making it an outstanding annual event in IAWA.

MEET RESULTS: 2019 World Postal Results (word) 2019 World Postal Results (pdf)

Memorial Record Day

by Al Myers

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT – 
USAWA MEMORIAL RECORD DAY

Last year Denny sanctioned this meet as the Vernacchio Record Day, honoring past USAWA great John Vernacchio.  This year it’s simply the Memorial Record Day – which recognizes all late USAWA members.  I think that is a great idea as over the past few years we have lost many friends within the organization.   This meet day will give us the time to reflect on those that have influenced the USAWA by their participation and contributions.

MEET DETAILS:

Meet Promoter: Denny Habecker

Meet Date: December 7th, 2019

Location: Habecker’s Gym, Lebanon, PA

Contact Denny if you plan to attend.

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