USAWA

By Bill Clark

The Second Annual Bench Press Decathlon drew a crowd of 16 USAWA/IAWA lifters from three countries and five states – 10 in person and six remote (two sending videos) in the first hybrid competition in the USAWA – and a forerunner (we all hope) of the way things will be in the near future.

Tony Hose successfully defended his title, slipping past Dave Beversdorf for the second year in a row.

Sylvia Stockall-Douglas of Victoria, British Columbia, took the women’s title (via video), edging past two Coloradoans – R.J. Jackson and Kim Van Wagner.

It was good seeing Joe Garcia back in competition after a 16-month battle with covid-19 and the severe after-effects. He finished one spot above Ol’ Clark, who wound up in 13^th spot – and happy to make a total.

Wyatt Sawyers made the drive from Tulsa for the second time in six weeks and brought along a former collegiate diver from the University of West Virginia, 28-year-old Logan McHenry, who had a day-long battle before losing to 22-year-old Nick Frieders by a slim 17 ½ points.

A new name to consider is Jeff Wenzil, a member of Clark’s Gym in Columbia, who was a loader in this meet a year ago. Jeff came in third behind his mentor, Dave Beversdorf.

The women’s competition was interesting – three lifters aged 55 and above.

The winner, Sylvia Stockall-Douglas, a 65-year-old from Victoria, British Columbia (that’s on Vancouver Island), actually lost one of her lifts to video when she failed to reach parallel in the Roman Chair bench, but still finished just ahead of two Colorado lifters – R.J. Jackson and Kim Van Wagner. Jackson is 61 and Van Wagner is a mere child at 55.

As a sidebar to this meet were a couple of comments that were welcomed by the meet director. Both Wyatt Sawyers and Phil Marlin voiced the same words: “I’m glad I found the USAWA.” Both lifted in  the Zercher Strength Classic and both made special trips to Columbia prior to the Zercher meet to do a full run-through of those 13 lifts before entering the competition.

Marlin will miss the USAWA Nationals in June. He will be in New Delhi, India, on a church mission assignment, but plans to be on hand for the Deadlift Dozen in the fall.

Sawyers, who manages a Crossfit gym in Tulsa  and competes in Crossfit, plans to be at the Nationals and hopes to be leading a new club in Tulsa. FYI – many of the lifts done in Crossfit are USAWA lifts and Crossfit uses the USAWA rules for those lifts.

From the point of view of this co-founder of the IAWA, I was moved by the mood of the 10 lifters who came together in Clark’s Gym, loading, officiating, coaching, and cheerleading as a team. We ran off almost 300 lifts in just over three hours – on one bench – a good warm -up for Ol’ Clark as he looks ahead at the Nationals in late June.

Next up on the Clark’s Gym agenda is the Diamond Jubilee – open only to those who have celebrated their 75^th birthday anniversary.

Officials were Tiny Lupo, Dave DeForest and Bill Clark.

Results are as follows (Lifters marked with an asterisk (*) are not eligible for records for this meet:

Name			age	bwt	Bench press		bench press		bench press		Bench press
					alternate grip		feet in air		hands together		one arm left
Tony Hose			54	226	275		315		225		135
Dave Beversdorf			57	306	335		315		225		140
Jeff Wenzil			48	222	225		275		235		115
Wyatt Sawyers			26	164	205		275		185		90
Phil Marlin			27	283	275		275		225		110
Tony Lupo			57	238	205		275		205		80
Nick Frieders			22	158	155		185		155		55
Logan McHenry			28	164	170		185		145		75
Dave DeForest			63	195	175		185		140		60
*Tony Cook			86	178	121		121		121		55
*Randy Smith			67	194	155		175		135		65
*Joe Garcia			69	201	135		135		115		55
Bill Clark			90	201	55		65		55		20
Name			Bench press		Bench press		Bench press		Bench press
			one arm right		Reverse grip		Roman Chair		Classic
Tony Hose			135		275		80		305
Dave Beversdorf			135		315		45		365
Jeff Wenzil			105		225		135		275
Wyatt Sawyers			85		205		135		290
Phil Marlin			110		275		135		335
Tony Lupo			55		240		80		290
Nick Frieders			55		170		80		200
Logan McHenry			75		175		105		185
Dave DeForest			65		185		55		185
*Tony Cook			44		138		0		127
*Randy Smith			65		155		75		175
*Joe Garcia			55		135		0		180
Bill Clark			22		55		22		65
Name			Reg Park Lift		Rampage		Total		Adjusted total
Tony Hose			270		72 rep x 95 lbs.		8855		8472.83
					6840 lbs.
Dave Beversdorf			270		75 reps with 100lbs.		9645		8185.25
					7,500 lbs.
Jeff Wenzil			210		65 reps with 90 lbs.		7750		7114.48
					5,850	lbs.
Wyatt Sawyers			200		54 reps with 90 lbs.		6530		5917.49
					4,860	lbs.
Phil Marlin			270		53 reps with 100 lbs.		7280		5451.99
					5,300 lbs.
Tony Lupo			120		80 reps with 50 lbs.		5585		5348.69
					4,000 lbs.
Nick Frieders			140	*	80 reps with 50 lbs.		5195		5331.11
335					4,000lbs.
Logan McHenry			150	*	52 reps with n75 lbs.		5,160		5l68.77
					3,900 lbs.
Dave DeForest			130		61 rep with 55 lbs.		4,530		5088.17
					3,355 lbs.
*Tony Cook			110		20 reps with 35 lbs.		2,378		4049.43
					1,540 lbs.
*Randy Smith			130		63 reps with 45 lbs.		3965		3602.06
					2,835	lbs.
			0		30 reps with 50 lbs.		2350		2779.51
					1,500 lbs.
Bill Clark			40		26 reps with 30 lbs.		1179		2369.98
					780 lbs.

WOMEN					Bench		bench		Bench Hand		Bench
					alternate		Feet Up		together		1-hand left
			age	bwt
*Sylvia Stockall-Douglas			65	164.5	65		135		105		35
*R.J. Jackson, Colorado			61	103.1	95		95		81		39
*Kim Van Wagner, Colorado			55	129.8	90		100		75		35
			Bench		bench		Bench		Bench				e
			1-hand – rt		reverse		classic		Roman Chaiur
*Sylvia Stockall-Douglas			35		65		160		55
*R.J. Jackson			39		95		95		85
*Kim Van Wagner			35		35		105		45
									Adjusted
			Reg Park		Rampage		Total		Total
*Sykvia Stocxkall-Douglas			0		48 reps with 45 lb.		2,715		3,504.03
					2160 lbs.
*R.J. Jackson			68		46 reps with 29 lb.		2026		3334.6
					1,334 lbs.
*Kim Van Wagner			90		16 reps with 65 lbs.		1705		3210.3
					1,040 lbs.

Successful fourth attempts for record

Reg Park bench:

Nick Frieders –

150

Logan McHenry

160

RECORD DAY

Dave DeForest

age – 63

bwt – 195

Deadlift- Ciavattone

365

Deadlift -two dumbbells –

335

Snatch – dumbbell left

65

Jackson press

122

Bench press – Fulton Bar – 185.

185

Official for record day – Bill Clark