Category Archives: USAWA Meet Results

Grip Championships

By Al Myers

2017 USAWA GRIP CHAMPIONSHIPS

Chad "Grizzly" Ullom won Overall Best Men's Lifter at the 2017 USAWA Grip Championships.

Chad “Grizzly” Ullom won Overall Best Men’s Lifter at the 2017 USAWA Grip Championships.

The USAWA Grip Championships last weekend at the Dino Gym was a huge success! A total of 17 lifters (5 women and 12 men) turned up to make this one of the biggest attended USAWA competitions in the past year. There was lots of great lifting – so much I will not be able to cover it all here.

The Womens Division was packed with 5 great lifters. RJ made the trip from Colorado, Mary Mac, Tressa and newcomer Saria came from Omaha, along with last years defending best lifter champion Emily Burchett. The Mens Division had a house full of seasoned grippers –  defending champ LaVerne Myers, 2012 World Champ Dan Wagman, grip sensation Ben Edwards, and Chad Ullom.  I knew that this years titles were up for grabs.

The Pinch Grip was the first lift of the day.  Most of the lifters had no idea what their max was in this lift, so as you can tell from the results listed below, alot of the lifters did a 4th attempt for record. The best lifts were by Dan Wagman, Chad Ullom, and Jason Payne, who all finished with a superb lift of 226 pounds.

The second lift was the Fulton DB one arm deadlift. The Fulton DB has a handle with diameter of 2″ so this makes the gripping a real challenge. Mary Mac had the top womens mark with 95 pounds, while Chad had the top men’s mark with 195 pounds! This new record by Chad is the best overall record lift ever in this lift by either hand, and matches the historic record set many years ago by Kevin Fulton. I was very impressed. LaVerne Myers had the second best lift with 185 pounds.

The third lift was the Middle Fingers Deadlift. Again, Mary had the top womens lift here with 195 pounds.  Very, very impressive.  Mary has always been great at this lift (she holds the top womens lift in the record list at 230 pounds), and on this day showed she still has it! The top mens lift went to Chad with a lift of 285 pounds.  Both Dan and Ben had been training hard for this lift in training and had suffered finger injuries that prevented them from taking all out maxes in the meet.  However, after Ben’s conservative 225# opener he made a big jump to 320# to try for a new PR.  He had the weight locked out but just a millisecond before he was to get the down command the bar popped out of his fingers, taking a chunk of flesh with it! O so close!

The meet finished with the Fulton Bar Hack Lift. Two women made a 200 pound lift (Emily and Saria) and four men were over 300 pounds (Chad 450, Zach and Ben 325, and Dan 305).  Chad really stole the show here with his huge 450. Plus I should mention that up through 3 events LaVerne was in the lead in total points, but after Chad’s and Dan’s big hacks he got passed by them and dropped to third overall. Ben provided a little humor in this event as he lifted his opener facing backwards! The funniest part of it all was that he didn’t do it on purpose and was a little embarrassed afterwards.

In the end RJ won overall best lifter in the Women’s Division over the best class of women’s lifters EVER in the Grip Championships.  RJ was very prepared for this meet and picked her attempts perfectly. She is now a 3X winner of the Overall Best Womens Lifter at the Grip Championships.  Saria shows alot of potential in the All Rounds.  In the mens division we had a newcomer to the USAWA – John Douglas.  I always like to see new lifters involved in our organization, especially great guys like John.  John ended up getting BEST LIFTER in the 50-54 age group in a hotly tested and competitive age group with Lance and Jason being part of. I was tremendously impressed with the two Junior Men lifters – Christian and Calvin.  Both these guys showed grit all day and it came down to a very close finish for best Mens Junior lifter with Christian edging Calvin 799 points to 793 points. I also want to mention Jason Payne.  Jason has lifted in meets at the Dino Gym before, but its been a few years.  Jason has a huge grip (he still holds the Dino Gym record with the hub lift) and if it wasn’t for the Hack Lift which gave him problems he would have placed much higher overall.  Got to mention our USAWA Prez Denny Habecker.  Denny just had surgury on a finger a couple of months ago but STILL lifted in the meet and did quite well.  That takes courage (or stupidity! haha).  The “effort award” has to go to Dan with his Fulton Bar Hack Lift.  Dan has plenty of strength in the Hack but had problems getting the bar past his hammys, and had to go to his third attempt to get it!  He never gives up.

I want to thank everyone for attending this meet, and lets make it another epic Grip Championships next year!

Meet Results:

2017 Grip Championships
February 11th, 2017
Dino Gym
Holland, Kansas

Meet Director: Al Myers

Scorekeeper & Announcer: Al Myers

Official (1 official system used): Al Myers

Lifts: Pinch Grip, Deadlift – Fulton Dumbbell, One Arm, Deadlift – Middle Fingers, Hack Lift – Fulton Bar

WOMENS DIVISION

LIFTER AG BWT Pin DLDB MFDL HLFB TOT PTS
RJ Jackson 55 106 156 (161) 80R 155 190 581 936.7
Emily Burchett 25 149 166 (201) 90R 160 (175) 180 (200) 596 638.0
Tressa Brooner 55 128 97 (107) 75R (80R) 115 (120) 130 (140) 417 576.5
Saria De La Vega 17 163 107 (112) 75R 150 185 (200) 517 547.5
Mary McConnaughey 57 304 161 (171) 95R 195 —- 451 383.9

MENS DIVISION

LIFTER AGE BWT Pin DLDB MFDL HLFB TOT PTS
Chad Ullom 45 246 226 180R (195R) 285 450 1141 967.6
Dan Wagman OP 185 226 150L 255 305 936 874.0
LaVerne Myers 72 238 205 185R 185 190 765 827.8
Christian Schimpf 18 154 171 (201) 120R 200 250 741 799.1
Calvin Heit 15 141 151 (166) 100R 135 235(245) 621 793.6
Ben Edwards 41 228 205 150R 225 325 905 767.8
Zach Lucas 31 262 161 175R 225 325 886 686.6
Denny Habecker 74 196 161 (176) 105R 150 110 526 641.4
John Douglas 53 318 166 155R 215 185 721 580.5
Dean Ross 74 246 107 (112) 115L 160 150 532 574.6
Jason Payne 51 333 205 (226) 150R 225 110 690 534.4
Lance Foster 51 340 191 115R 215 130 651  499.4

NOTES: Age is listed in years. BWT is bodyweight in pounds.  All lifts recorded in pounds. R and L designate right and left hands. TOT is total pounds lifts. PTS are overall points adjusted for age and bodyweight. Extra lifts for records are recorded with parenthesis.

BEST LIFTER AWARDS

RJ Jackson – Best Women’s Master and Overall Best Lifter
Emily Burchett – Best Women’s Senior
Saria De La Vega – Best Women’s Junior
Chad Ullom – Best Men’s Master 45-49 and Overall Best Lifter
Dan Wagman – Best Mens Open
LaVerne Myers – Best Mens Master 70-74
Christian Schimpf – Best Mens Junior
Ben Edwards – Best Men’s 40-44
John Douglas – Best Men’s 50-54

RECORD DAY LIFTS

RJ Jackson  – 55 years old, 106 lbs.
Deadlift – Inch DB, Right: 61 lbs.
Deadlift – Inch DB, Left: 58.5 lbs.
Finger Lift – Little, Right: 36.5 lbs.
Saxon Snatch: 35 lbs.
Teeth Lift: 54 lbs.

Dan Wagman – Open age group, 184 lbs.
Curl – Cheat, 2 Dumbbells: 190 lbs.
Saxon Snatch: 110 lbs.
Deadlift – No Thumb, Left Arm: 187 lbs.
Deadlift – No Thumb, Right Arm: 187 lbs.
Vertical Bar Lift – 1″, 1 Bar, Right Hand: 261 lbs.

Denny Habecker – 74 years old, 197 lbs.
Lateral Raise – Standing: 50 lbs.
Vertical Bar Lift – 1″, 1 Bar, Left Hand: 91 lbs.
Vertical Bar Lift – 1″, 1 Bar, Right Hand: 106 lbs.
Vertical Bar Lift – 1″, 2 Bars: 182 lbs.
Press – Behind Neck, From Racks: 110 lbs.

Calvin Heit – 15 years old, 142 lbs.
Deadlift – Heels Together: 220 lbs.
Curl – Cheat, Dumbbell, Right Arm: 60 lbs.
Curl – Cheat, Dumbbell, Left Arm: 65 lbs.

Chad Ullom – 45 years old, 246 lbs.
Squat – Front: 396 lbs.
Deadlift – Ciavattone Grip: 440 lbs.
Curl – Cheat, Dumbbell, Right Arm: 115 lbs.

Dean Ross – 74 years old, 244 lbs.
Vertical Bar Deadlift – 1″, 1 Bar, Left Hand: 106 lbs.
Vertical Bar Deadlift – 1″, 1 Bar, Right Hand: 106 lbs.
Vertical Bar Deadlift – 1″, 2 Bars: 212 lbs.

LaVerne Myers – 72 years old, 241 lbs.
Deadlift – Fulton DB, Left Arm: 180 lbs.
Deadlift – Fulton Bar, Left Arm: 170 lbs.
Deadlift – 3″ Bar: 235 lbs.
Vertical Bar Lift – 2″, 1 Bar, Left Hand: 165 lbs.
Bench Press – Fulton Bar: 125 lbs.

Al Myers – 50 years old, 227 lbs.
Bench Press – Roman Chair: 180 lbs.
Deadlift – Fulton Bar, Right Arm: 180 lbs.
Deadlift – Fulton DB, Right Arm: 180 lbs.
Back Extension: 180 lbs.
Curl – Cheat, Reverse Grip: 180 lbs.

Dino Challenge

By Al Myers

I always knew this would eventually happen – bad weather affecting my Dino Challenge!  And this year it did just that, with a predicted bad ice storm blowing in on meet day.  I had several lifters planning on attending but didn’t because they didn’t want to risk the travel.  I sure don’t blame them.  I’m actually surprised this hasn’t happened before in the over 10 year continuous run of the Dino Challenge in January. But the meet went on to keep the tradition alive.  My dad had only a quarter mile drive to make it, and I was able to walk to the gym!  So it was just the two of us.

Meet Results:

2017 Dino Gym Challenge
Dino Gym
Holland, KS
January 14th, 2017

Meet Director: Al Myers

Officials (1-official system used): Al Myers & LaVerne Myers

Lifts: Deadlift – 2 Inch Dumbbells, Vertical Bar Deadlift  2 bars 2″, Clean and Press 2 Dumbbells, Cheat Curl 2 Dumbbells, Reg Park Bench Press, Deadlift 2 Bars

LIFTER AGE BWT Inch VB C&P CC BP DL TOT PTS
Al Myers 50 225 260 380 100 162 200 452 1554 1445.2
LaVerne Myers 72 239 242 270 50 100 66 220 948 1023.8

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

RECORD DAY LIFTS

Al Myers – Finger Lift Left Little 75#
Al Myers – Finger Lift Right Little 75#
Al Myers – Finger Lift Right Thumb 75#
Al Myers – Finger Lift Left Thumb 75#
Al Myers – Rectangular Fix Fulton Bar 70#
LaVerne Myers – Finger Lift Right Thumb 75#
LaVerne Myers – Finger Lift Left Thumb 75#
LaVerne Myers – Finger Lift Left Middle 110#
LaVerne Myers – Rectangular Fix Fulton Bar 70#
LaVerne Myers – Miller Clean and Jerk 60#

Postal Championships

By Al Myers

The results of the final USAWA postal competition, the Postal Championships,  is wrapped up.  Our postal meet director Denny Habecker has done a great job this year promoting our postal series.  The Championships had very good participation – with 14 men lifters and 3 women lifters.  The Overall Champion in the Men’s Division was Dan Wagman, and the Overall Champion in the Women’s Division was RJ Jackson.

Meet Results:

2016 USAWA Postal Championships
December 31st, 2016

Meet Director: Denny Habecker

Lifts: Abdominal Raise, Pinch Grip, Continental to Belt

Lifters that used a certified official:
Dan Wagman – Official Jarrod Fobes
Al Myers – Official LaVerne Myers
Chad Ullom – Officials Al Myers, LaVerne Myers
LaVerne Myers – Official Al Myers
Barry Bryan – Official Denny Habecker, Art Montini
Barry Pensyl – Officials Denny Habecker, Barry Bryan, Art Montini
Mark Raymond – Officials Frank Ciavattone, Rocky Morrison
Calvin Heit – Official Chad Ullom
Rocky Morrison – Officials Frank Ciavattone, Jeff Ciavattone
Dean Ross – Officials Al Myers, LaVerne Myers, Chad Ullom
Crystal Diggs – Official RJ Jackson
Eric Todd – Official Lance Foster
Lance Foster – Official Eric Todd

Lifters using a non-certified Judge:
Denny Habecker – Judge Aidan Habecker
David Fisher – Judge Lynda Burns
RJ Jackson – Judge Dan Wagman
Lynda Burns – Judge David Fisher

WOMENS DIVISION

LIFTER AGE BWT AbR Pin Belt TOT PTS
RJ Jackson 55 105 33 131 155 319 518.2
Crystal Diggs 30 164 15 60 95 170 171.0
Lynda Burns 42 205 25 45 115 185 167.9

MENS DIVISION

LIFTER AGE BWT AbR Pin Belt TOT PTS
Dan Wagman 39 185 55 226 375 656 612.6
Al Myers 50 225 50 215 375 640 595.5
Chad Ullom 45 246 55 160 440 655 555.7
LaVerne Myers 72 239 15 190 220 425 460.1
Barry Bryan 58 196 33 165 220 418 449.6
Denny Habecker 74 195 17 105 242 364 445.9
Barry Pensyl 68 149 37 83 176 296 408.8
Mark Raymond 53 238 17 156 231 404 374.9
Eric Todd 41 260 15 125 349 469 372.3
Calvin Heit 14 125 25 67 155 247 359.9
Rocky Morrison 54 270 5 156 242 403 354.0
Dean Ross 74 250 15 110 198 323 346.2
Lance Foster 51 340 0 115 243 358 274.1
David Fisher 42 229 25 45 165 235 201.1

Notes: Age is recorded in years. BWT is bodyweight in pounds. All lifts recorded in pounds. TOT is total pounds lifted. PTS are overall points adjusted for age and bodyweight corrections.

Lebanon Valley RD

By Denny Habecker

The Lebanon Valley Record Day was a big success, with 6 lifters  setting 18 new records. The meet was run on the 3 referee system with Barry Bryan, Art Montini, and Denny Habecker as judges. We had Barry Pensyl,  Bill Clark, and  Aidan Habecker to round out the crew. Aidan started us off with a great lift of 50 Kg. [110 LBS.] in the Right Hand 2″ Vertical Bar lift breaking the old record by almost 40 lbs., and Bill finished of the day with a great One Hand Deadlift- Left Hand of 165 KG. [364 Lbs.] Barry Bryan and Barry Pensyl even had enough energy left to do the Postal lifts after all the record breaking was done.

Meet Results:

Lebanon Valley Record Day
Habecker’s Gym
Lebanon, PA
December 28th, 2016

Meet Director: Denny Habecker

Officials (3-official system used): Denny Habecker, Barry Bryan, Art Montini

Lifters:

Aidan Habecker- age 13 – 131 lbs.- 60 Kg. Class

Right Hand  2″ Vertical Bar Lift      50 Kg. [ 110 Lbs.]
Right Hand Fulton Bar Deadlift      25 KG. [ 55 Lbs.]

Bill Clark – age 48 [45-49]- 196 Lbs. – 90 Kg. Class

Hackenschmidt Floor Press   –       120 Kg. [265 Lbs.]
Deadlift – One Arm, Left       –       165 Kg. [ 364 Lbs.]

Barry Bryan – age 58 [55-59] – 196 Lbs. – 90 Kg. Class

Hackenschmidt Floor Press  –       105 Kg. [ 231 Lbs.]
Abdominal Raise                 –         15 Kg. [ 33 Lbs.]
Pinch Grip                          –        75 Kg.  [ 165 Lbs.]

Barry Pensyl -age 68 [ 65-69 ]  149 Lbs. – 70 Kg. Class

Bench Press- Feet in Air      – 67.5 Kg. – [ 149 Lbs.]
Snatch – Dumbbell, Right    – 23.1 Kg. – [ 51 Lbs]
Snatch – Dumbbell, Left      – 22.2 Kg.  -[ 49 Lbs.]

Denny Habecker – age 74 [70-74] – 195 Lbs. – 90 Kg. Class

Finger Lift, Left Index         – 27.5 Kg. – [61 Lbs.]
Finger Lift, Left Little          – 17.5 Kg.  -[ 39 Lbs.]
Finger Lift, Left Middle        – 27.5 Kg.  -[61 Lbs.]
Finger Lift, Left Ring           – 25 Kg.    – [55 Lbs.]

Art Montini -age 89 [ 85-89] – 168 Lbs. – 80 Kg. Class

Steinborn                       30 Kg. [ 66 Lbs.]

I did not list the postal lifts that weren’t records in these results. They will be on the Postal results. After the meet Judy fattened us up with pork barbecue, cold cuts and donuts.

Team Championships

By Al Myers

2016 USAWA TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

I started promoting the USAWA Team Championships in 2007, so this year makes it the 10th year! I remember thinking this would become a popular meet amongst the lifters because it gave a different element to lifting than other meets -that being you lifted “on the bar” with a team mate! Well, in these 10 years it has not seemed to grow as I imagined back then, but none the less, always gives an entertaining day of lifting.  This year Chad and I again competed to “defend our title” from last year, and were challenged by the Dino Gym elders LaVerne Myers and Dean Ross.  These two team up well in size and lifting ability, plus have “been around the block a time or two” so they know how to play dirty.  I knew they would give us a good fight.  That was true.

For the first time in the Team Championships we included an Old Time Strongman Lift, the Hackenschmidt Floor Press.  This proved to be a real challenge with two lifters on the bar as your elbows were hitting your partners and you had to press in a closegrip fashion.  The second lift was the 1 arm deadlift with the fulton bar.  This has been contested in the Team Champs before so Chad and I had a goal to break our previous meet best. We accomplished that with a 210 KG lift.  The final lift was the Team Stifflegged Deadlift. Both teams used up their 3 attempt limits before hitting a true maximum weight.

Even though this was a small meet we had a great time!  We finished so quick that we had time afterwards for Dean and Chad to do their National Postal lifts along with some record day lifts.

MEET RESULTS:

2016 USAWA Team Championships
Dino Gym, Abilene, Kansas
December 17th, 2016

Meet Director: Al Myers

Officials (1 official system used): Al Myers, Chad Ullom, LaVerne Myers

Lifts: Team Hackenschmidt Floor Press, Team One Arm Fulton Bar Deadlift, Team Stiff Legged Deadlift

Lifters:

Dino Gym 1
Dean Ross – 74 years old, 250 pounds
LaVerne Myers – 72 years old, 239 pounds

Dino Gym 2
Al Myers – 50 years old, 226 pounds
Chad Ullom – 45 years old, 246 pounds

TEAM Press 1FBDL SL DL TOTAL POINTS
Dino Gym 2 235 210R 350 795 674.2
Dino Gym 1 120 155R 185 460 485.5

NOTES:  All lifts recorded in kilograms.  TOTAL is total kilograms lifted.  Points are adjusted points for age and bodyweight corrections.

Record Day Lifts:

Dean Ross – Back Lift 1050 lbs.
LaVerne Myers – Thors Hammer 20 lbs.
Al Myers – Thors Hammer 45 lbs.
LaVerne Myers – Pinch Grip Left 70 lbs.
Al Myers – Pinch Grip Left 80 lbs.
Al Myers – Pinch Grip Right 80 lbs.
LaVerne Myers – Finger Lift Left Middle 95 lbs.
Al Myers – Finger Lift Left Middle 125 lbs.
LaVerne Myers – Finger Lift Right Middle 125 lbs.
Al Myers – Finger Lift Right Middle 125 lbs.

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