Category Archives: USAWA Daily News

2017 Year in Review

By Al Myers

I have just finished the 2017 USAWA Year in Review.  Every year since I have been secretary of the USAWA I have done this Review Book.  I take all the information that has been put on the website (blogs, meet results, past history archives, etc) and copy it into a book, which is printed off.  I also include this book as a digital file on the website if someone wants to look at it that way or print it off themselves.

I do this for one reason primarily – and that is to preserve the history of the USAWA in paper form.  It always surprises me by the amount of information that this website accumulates every year. This year the Year in Review is 372 pages long and contains 93,500 words!  It would take a few evenings to get all that read.

If anyone wants a printed copy of the Year in Review please let me know.  I plan to take it to the printer’s next week.  The cost is $50, made out to the USAWA.

Postal Series Wrapup

By Al Myers

The USAWA has 4 postal meets per year (March, June, September, and December), with the last one being designated as the Postal Championships. All these together make up the Postal Meet Series. Each postal meet a lifter competes in generates points for him/her, that total up for the final Postal Series Ranking.

The way the points are generated is pretty simple. I take the overall placings of the meet and then reverse “the count” for the points earned for each lifter. I.E – if three lifters compete lifter number 1 gets 3 points, lifter number 2 gets 2 points, and lifter number three gets 1 point. The Postal Championships is worth “double points”. Obviously then, as more lifters enter more points can be earned for winning the meet, and ALL lifters earn points regardless where they place overall. Just entering will earn points toward the Postal Series Ranking.

Overall there was good participation in the USAWA Postal Meets last year. A total of 22 lifters competed in the various postal meets, which is more lifters than competed last year. The first Postal Meet had 14 lifters, the second had 9 lifters, the third had 11 lifters, and the Postal Championship drew 18 lifters. Several lifters competed in ALL of the postal meets last year and they deserve to be recognized.  These lifters are the GRAND SLAM WINNERS:  RJ Jackson, Eric Todd, Mark Raymond, Aidan Habecker, Denny Habecker, and Lance Foster.

Now for the overall rankings for the 2017 USAWA Postal Series!

WOMENS DIVISION – TOP THREE

PLACING LIFTER MEETS ENTERED POINTS
1 RJ Jackson 4 9
2 Kim Lydon 1 6
3 Crystal Diggs 3 4

MENS DIVISION – TOP TEN

PLACING LIFTER MEETS ENTERED POINTS
1 Eric Todd 4 46
2 Al Myers 3 42
3 John Douglas 3 41
4 Tony Patterson 1 30
5 Chad Ullom 2 27
6 Tie Mark Raymond 4 26
6 Tie Barry Bryan 2 26
6 Tie LaVerne Myers 2 26
9 Denny Habecker 4 25
10 Aidan Habecker 4 23

Congrats to RJ Jackson and Eric Todd for being the OVERALL WINNERS of the 2017 USAWA Postal Series.  This is RJ’s 5th STRAIGHT Postal Series Champion Winner (2013-2017).  That is an amazing accomplishment!  For ET, this is first time being the Overall Champion of the Postal Series. Eric has been a devoted Postal Meet participant, and always finishes in the TOP TEN each year in the Postal Series.  This year he had an outstanding Postal Series season, being the Best Lifter in two of the Postal Meets (2nd Quarter and 3rd Quarter).  Both RJ and ET represent the USAWA with high class, and are well deserving of the title of Postal Series Champions.

I want to thank everyone who participated in our Postal Meet Series.  This partipation is what keeps our Postals going every year. I also want to mention and give credit to our Postal Meet Director Denny Habecker who makes all this happen.  A full historical archive of the past Postal Meet Series is kept on the website, under “history”.

Welcome Barry to the Club!

By Al Myers

I just got done updating the USAWA Record List and the Century Club.  And to my excitement we have a new USAWA Century Club member, and that is BARRY PENSYL. The Century Club is for an inclusive group of All Rounders who hold over 100 USAWA records. It’s not easy to exceed 100 records in our organization, and often takes many years.  Barry has been working towards this for a long, long time.   His first USAWA record was set in 1990 at the Nationals in Akron!  So this has been a 27 year project for Barry! Big congrats Barry from myself and the rest of the USAWA.

Other than that, there were not any really big changes in the CENTURY CLUB. Our Prez Denny still holds the big lead over the rest of the field in the Mens Club, with a total of 575 USAWA Records. RJ still holds the top Women’s spot in the Womens Century Club and is closing in on 300 USAWA Records.  In the Men’s Club all the top ten members either stayed the same or increased their record count.  In the Womens Club all four members stayed the same or increased their count.  The Men’s Century Club now stands at 25 members with the addition of Barry.  The biggest record “increasers” since last count were: RJ (+17), Denny (+15), LaVerne (+11), and myself (+19).  Not much changed in the overall order – the women’s Club stayed the same and only two changes happened in the Mens Club.  LaVerne moved past THE LEGEND Howard Prechtel to 13th place, and ET moved up a place to 22nd.  One thing had me really concerned when updating this list, and that is that I found a “record error” with Dave Glasgow, who’s barely holding in the Century Club with an even 100 records.  Apparently I had made a previous mistake in the Record List by attributing a record to Dave, when it should have went to his Uncle Kenny!  So I had to made the correction which would have meant Dave had not officially reached the Century Club – but to my good luck I got to add a record for Dave when I added the Strict Pinch Grip to the Record List so he’s still in with his count of 100.  But PLEASE DAVE set a few more so you will no longer be on the “cut line”!

I’ve always been pretty good at predicting who the next Century Club member will be. I “nailed it’ with Barry, and with Eric and Randy before as well.  Now who do I predict it will be now?  My bet is on Dan Wagman! Dan is standing at 90 Records and it wouldn’t take him much work to get 10 more.  But that depends on Dan not going “off the grid” in the near future, which with Dan you never know!  So I’m going to hedge my bet and throw out another name for a future Century Club member.  Abe Smith is currently standing at 91 USAWA Records, and has shown interest in lifting this spring in the USAWA. His odds are very good that he will make the Club as well.

Be sure to check out the latest Record List update.

Art’s Birthday Bash

by Al Myers

****CANCELLED****

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT
ART’S BIRTHDAY BASH

Meet Details:

Date: October 14th, 2018
Venue:  Ambridge VFW BBC, Ambridge, PA
Meet Director: Art Montini

Lifts contested will be record day lifts, with a maximum of 5 allowed per lifter.

Please contact Art if you plan to attend.

Spec Equipment: Fulton Dumbbell

By Al Myers

FultonDB

The Fulton Dumbbell has been added to the USAWA Online Store, under Spec Equipment.  This is a very well built piece that will last forever in your gym.  I personally guarantee that you will never bend it in your lifetime.  It is made from a solid 1-15/16″ diameter cold roll shaft.  The Fulton Dumbbells in the Dino Gym are exactly the same.

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