Category Archives: USAWA Daily News

LIFTER OF THE MONTH, MARCH 2025 – RANDY SMITH

March was a busy month with meets being held in Massachusetts, Kentucky, Missouri and Colorado. Randy Smith earned lifter of the month for March by shining in the Colorado Single Arm Challenge and Jeff’s 50th Birthday Bash. He was first overall in the Single Arm Challenge with a massive 420 pound unadjusted total at 198 pound bodyweight and 70 years of age. During Jeff’s Birthday Bash, he completed four of five lifts with an impressive 130 pound Roman Chair Sit-up.

Randy has records dating back to the 2003 National Championship and has competed in 16 National Championships and was the best lifter in 2015. He is a member of the Century Club with 144 records. 31 of those are National Records, which puts him at 5th behind some pretty impressive company.

Most recently he has taken a role on the USAWA Advisory Committee which was tasked with better understanding the membership.

This is the 4th time Randy has earned Lifter of the Month with past recognition in July 2014, June 2015 and October 2021. Congratulations Randy!

2025 Nationals Update – Change of Venue and Hotel

by Clint Poore

A mighty day of strength to you!

      This update for the 2025 USAWA Nationals brings about change. The 2025 nationals meet location and hotel have both changed due to unforeseen issues. To be clear, Dale Hollow Lake State Resort had a structural collapse of a partial lodge building & walkway and is undergoing immediate emergency construction, according to the State Park. We appreciate the swift notice by Dale Hollow State Park and hopefully we get the opportunity to plan another meet there in future. 

      THERE IS ALWAYS A BACKUP PLAN! The backup plan will be to host the 2025 USAWA Nationals at Buffville Colosseum, which is located at 2608 North Highway 127 Business in Albany, Ky. It is a 16,000 square ft. warehouse and has hosted the Old Time Strongman World Championships in 2023 and the HackenDinnie Classic II in 2024. Now it will host the premier event for the USAWA, the 2025 USAWA NATIONALS!  

      Our hotel venue has changed as well. The new meet hotel for the 2025 USAWA Nationals is the Baymont Inn in Albany, Kentucky. Here are a few points to know about booking a room.

HOTEL – BAYMONT INN  phone #(606) 387-7238. You must call the Baymont Inn to receive the group rate. You will not receive the group rate if you book online through a third party.

Group code is USAWA

The Baymont Inn has a block of 20 rooms for the USAWA for 139 dollars per night plus tax, more rooms can be added if necessary.

You must call the Baymont Inn to make a reservation with the group code. This is peak season for Lake Cumberland and Dale Hollow Lake, meaning the rooms will only be held until June 8th. After June 8, the group code will no longer be available. Due to being the peak season for travelers, each reservation must be for a minimum of two nights, Friday & Saturday night. This is a destination location for travelers and you must book before the deadline of June 8th. If you wait to the last minute you may not get a room.

The National Meeting is currently scheduled for Friday, July 18 at 5 pm at Southern Kentucky Distillery (SKD). We are also having a Kentucky Bourbon Distillery visit at 2 pm which will be followed by the National Meeting. Kentucky is World Famous for its Bourbon and anyone who is interested can take the Bourbon Distillery tour for 15 dollars. It’s a very fun and insightful tour that everyone can enjoy.  

With all these new updates/changes the 2025 USAWA Nationals and National Meeting are planned and ready to lead the USAWA into a glorious future! Until the next update………..

Here is the current roster of 24 confirmed lifters.

(Please make sure all entries are paid online at the Eventbrite link on the entry form)

Beth Skwarecki
Allison Lupo
Jessica Hopps
Chris Frappier
Kyle Frappier
Jerry Wilson
Jeff Bankens
Isaac Bankens
Clint Poore
Ashley Stearns
Abe Smith 
Randy Richey
John Bunch
Jarrod Gaddis
Sanjiv Gupta
Tony Lupo
Randy Smith
David DeForest
Chad Ullom
Toby Ortega
Frank Ciavattone
Dan Jones
Wade Marchand
Nils Larson

Many more to be added

BE STRONG!

Clint Poore

LIFTER OF THE MONTH, FEBRUARY 2025 – JEFF BANKENS

Jeff Bankens is the lifter of the Month for February.  Jeff is a newcomer to the organization, but has already made an impact by hosting the first ever USAWA meet in Louisiana and setting four records along the way.

Jeff is also active on USAWA’s social media platforms with (5) posts in February in addition to his strongman show clips in 2024.  Finally, Jeff is active in his church community and brings people of the world together not only through the Gospel, but also through strength sports.  Congratulations Jeff!

Survey for the future of USAWA

We invite all USAWA members (and past/future/potential members) to fill out this survey asking what you want to see from the organization going forward. The results from this survey will be shared with the Executive Board and a summary will be presented to the membership. Please fill out the survey by April 30 so that we have time to discuss the results well in advance of the National Meeting.

Our goal is to find out what YOU want the USAWA to provide and which goals to prioritize. The EB gets a lot of feedback and requests from members, often conflicting, and we want to make sure that we’re not just running the organization according to our own preferences or listening to the loudest voices—this is YOUR organization and we want to have more information about what what will best serve the entire membership. In the survey you can tell us what you currently enjoy, where we could improve, and what opportunities we might take advantage of in the future.

Even if you are not a current USAWA member, we invite you to take the survey. If you’ve been a member in the past, or if you are thinking about joining someday, your input is still valued. (We will be able to separate results according to members and non-members when we analyze the results.)

Thank you to our hardworking advisory committee who put this survey together: Chris Frappier, Kyle Frappier, Allison Lupo, Tony Lupo, Clint Poore, Randy Smith.

Here is the survey link again. Please share with others in our USAWA community. Our deadline is April 30, 2025. USAWA survey link

Update for Nationals 2025

by Clint Poore

      2025 is off to a roaring start ! We are 4 months away from the 2025 USAWA Nationals & the early preparations are going well. The Kentucky team is putting in the hours and making plans to help ensure everyone has a fantastic experience at the 2025 USAWA Nationals at Dale Hollow State Park & Resort in Burkesville, Kentucky.

Here are some things to remember as you prepare this year’s USAWA Nationals.

1. You must register online; late entries will not be accepted and the entry deadline is July 1st. It’s easy and you can be registered for the meet immediately. Details for entry are here.

2. We have a group block of 30 rooms reserved at Dale Hollow State Resort. Once they are gone, there will not be any more added. Also, the group block will be released 2 months prior to the meet. You will not be able to get a room at Dale Hollow Resort if you wait until the last minute, because it’s summer time and people come from all over the country to enjoy Dale Hollow Lake. There are other options for hotels but they are a minimum of 15 minutes or more from the resort. 

3. You must be a USAWA member prior to the meet to compete in this event. You can buy your 2025 USAWA membership today on the website.

Forms and Applications

4. This is going to be an exciting meet with tremendous lifting. I hope you can join us for this monumental weekend in Burkesville, Kentucky. Bring your whole family together and enjoy beautiful Dale Hollow Lake for a few days. It’s a gorgeous location that has something for everyone in the family to do.

5. Below is the preliminary roster for the 2025 USAWA Nationals. These are the confirmed athletes who will be attending the 2025 USAWA Nationals, with many more to be added soon. Please make sure you complete the online registration to finalize your meet entry.  Its going to be fun!

Beth Skwarecki

Sanjiv Gupta

Chris Frappier

Kyle Frappier

Jerry Wilson

Jeff Bankens

Isaac Bankens

Randy Richey

Jarrod Gaddis

Dave DeForest

Tony Lupo

Allsion Lupo

Patrick Hadley

Ashley Stearns

Clint Poore

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