By Al Myers
Joe Ciavattone Jr. in action with the Hand and Thigh at a past USWA Heavy Lift Champinships.
Joe Ciavattone Jr. won LIFTER OF THE MONTH for May with his outstanding performance in the 2017 USAWA Heavy Lift Championships held in Walpole, MA. Joe Jr. won Overall Best Lifter. This was the first time Joe Jr. has won best lifter at the Heavy Lift Champs and he now has joined a long list of great Heavy Lift Champions.
Congrats Joe Jr.!!!
By Al Myers
The USAWA Lifter of the Month for April goes to Daryl Jackson. Daryl competed in the 1st Quarter USAWA Postal Meet and won Overall Best Mens lifter against a very tough field of lifters. A total of 12 men competed in this postal. This is a big accomplishment!
Congrats Daryl!
By Al Myers
LaVerne Myers in action at the 2016 IAWA World Championships.
Congrats to LaVerne Myers for being selected as the USAWA Lifter of the Month for January!!!
I know I’m going back a few months for this recognition, but I intend this year to select a USAWA Lifter of the Month for each month of this year and not miss a month!
LaVerne earned this award because he made it to the Dino Gym Challenge during a blizzard. The Dino Gym Challenge was the only USAWA competition held in January, and the only other competitor in the Challenge was myself. I didn’t feel like I earned it because I can walk to the gym. Pa had to drive a quarter of a mile!
Congrats LaVerne!!!
By Al Myers
Hopefully everyone took the trivia contest the other day over the history of the National Championships. Today I’m going to go over the answers, and since this is a self-graded trivia contest – check your own answers. If you are brave enough please share your results on the USAWA Discussion Forum. The answers to all these questions can be found in the History Archive here on the website.
1. What is the year of the first National Championships?
1988. The first USAWA National Championships was held July 9-10th, 1988 at Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. It was promoted by John Vernacchio.
2. Name one lift that has been contested in 10 or more National Championships?
7 lifts have been contested at Nationals 10 or more times. They are the Zercher Lift (16 times), The Deadlift – One Arm (15 times), the Pullover and Push (13 times), The Clean and Press – Heels Together (12 times), The Snatch – One Arm (11 times), The Hip Lift (10 times), and the Neck Lift (10 times).
3. Only a handful of USAWA meet promoters have promoted 3 or more Championships, Name one.
Actually this list is quite long. Here are possible answers.
John Vernacchio – 1988, 1989, and 2004
Art Montini & John McKean – 1991, 1999, and 2002
Frank Ciavattone – 1996, 1998, and 2016
Denny Habecker – 2000, 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2015
Al Myers – 2006, 2009, and 2012
Bill Clark & Joe Garcia – 1995, 1997, and 2001
4. Name 5 states that have hosted Nationals.
The 7 states that have hosted Nationals are: Pennsylvania (12 times), Ohio (6 times), Massachusetts (4 times), Missouri (4 times), Kansas (2 times), Nevada (1 time), and Illinois (1 time).
5. The 25th anniversary of the Nationals was held where?
The 25th USAWA Nationals was held in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 30th, 2012. This year (2017) marked our 30th anniversary of the USAWA National Championships.
6. Name 3 men lifters who have won Overall Best Lifter at Nationals.
These 16 men have won overall best lifter titles at Nationals: Al Myers (7), Art Montini (4), Bob Hirsh (3), Ed Schock (3), Steve Schmidt (2), Barry Bryan, Joe Ciavattone Sr., Joe Ciavattone Jr., Mike McBride, Bill DiCioccio Sr., John Monk, Denny Habecker, Jim Malloy, Larry Traub, Randy Smith, and Chad Ullom
7. Name 3 women lifters who have won Overall Best Lifter at Nationals.
These 15 women have won overall best lifter titles at Nationals: Noi Phumchaona (4), Susan Sees (3), Jacqueline Caron/Simonsen (3), Jeanne Burchett (2), Amorkor Ollennuking (2), Amber Glasgow, Cindy Garcia, Cassie Morrison, Kerry Clark, Cara Ciavattone, Su.J. Mason, Rita Hall, Pam Maciolek, Elizabeth Month, and Molly Myers
8. What month is the most common month Nationals has been held?
June – 21 of the 30 Nationals have been in this month.
9. Out of our close to 200 official lifts in the USAWA, how many have been contested at prior Nationals. Multiple choice here. A. Under 25, B. 26-75, C. 76-125, D. Over 126
ANSWER IS B. 55 of our official lifts have been contested at a past National Championships.
10. TRUE/FALSE The USAWA National Championships has always been a two day meet.
ANSWER IS FALSE. 9 Nationals have been one day events. However, the first one day Nationals wasn’t till 2006.
By Al Myers
I just got done updating the USAWA Record List with the recent results from the USAWA National Championships. I usually let 2 or 3 meets go by before I update the online record list, but I wanted to get on this quick for one reason. That’s because I knew Randy Smith was standing at 99 USAWA records for one year (since last years Nationals) and I knew he had to set at least one record at Nationals to make the CENTURY CLUB.
And that he did, so welcome to the CENTURY CLUB Randy Smith. And then to my surprise Eric Todd has now made it as well. Congrats ET as I know you have working at this for a long, long time. Eric’s first USAWA competition was over 15 years ago in which he first set a USAWA record. With the addition of Randy and Eric to the CENTURY CLUB, the Men’s Club now stands at 23 members. Not much changed in the Men’s overall ranking. Denny still holds a commanding lead, over Art and myself. John McKean stills solid at number 4, and Joe Garcia and Dean Ross are tied at the number 5 spot. These 5 lifters are the only ones over the 300 record mark. Other changes include Scott Schmidt climbing a spot (past fellow Cleveland native the legendary Howard Prechtel) to number 12, and LaVerne Myers moving from number 16 to 14. Chris Waterman’s return at Nationals allowed him to add several records to his count, thus moving him up to a tie for 17th.
In the Women’s Century Club, there was a BIG CHANGE. RJ has finally overtaken Noi for the number one spot, with 271 records. Many consider Noi as the most decorated women’s lifter in the history of the USAWA, so this is a major accomplishment for RJ. Congrats RJ as I know you have worked very hard to achieve this. Mary Mac and Susan Sees round out the Women’s Century Club.
(The Trivia Answers blog will be ran tomorrow as I’m still getting responses from those who have taken the quiz)