USAWA

BY DAVE GLASGOW

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS ON THE GREAT PLAINES

FOUR CLUBS AND THREE STATES WERE REPRESENTED AT THE USAWA CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS, HOSTED BY THE LEDAIG HEAVY ATHLETICS, IN RAINBOW BEND, KS. THOSE PARTICIPATING RANGED IN AGE FROM ELEVEN TO EIGHTY SEVEN! QUITE A RANGE. YET, THERE WERE GREAT LIFTS POSTED BY ALL WHO COMPETED.

ALEX WHETSTONE HAD NEVER DONE ANY OF THE LIFTS PRIOR TO THE MEET DAY. HE WAS GIVEN A CRASH COURSE ON THE LIFTS BY HIS UNCLE, 9 TIME MASTERS NATIONAL POWER LIFTING CHAMPION , LARRY ‘FLOYD’ TRAUB AND HIS GRANPA, DAVE GLASGOW. FOR ONE SO YOUNG AND WITH NO EXPERIENCE, WE ALL THOUGHT HE DID VERY WELL! I DOUBT VERY SERIOUSLY IF WE HAVE SEEN THE LAST OF HIM!

ANOTHER NEW CAST MEMBER TO THE LEDAIG TEAM AND THE USAWA IS DREVON KRESSLY. YOU WILL SOON NOTICE THAT THE MAJORITY OF THE MEMBERS OF TEAM LEDAIG ARE KRESSLYS AND DREVON ADDED A NEW FACE! WHAT A GREAT, YOUNG TALENT THIS KID IS!! VERY UNASSUMING AND SOFT SPOKEN, DREVON WAS SHOWED THE ‘SPLIT’ TECHNIQUE FOR THE ONE ARM C/J AND THEN PROCEDED TO PERFORM IT TO PERFECTION ON HIS VERY NEXT LIFT!! IMPRESSIVE! HE HAS THAT POWER/QUICKNESS QUALITY THAT YOU CAN’T TRAIN OR TEACH. VERY GOOD TO HAVE HIM ABOARD. DREVON’S BROTHER, LOGAN, SHOWED UP AND DID VERY WELL, ALSO. HAVING RETURNED FROM NATIONALS LAST MONTH, HE IS NO STRANGER TO THE USAWA. HE KEPT THE LEDAIG TEAM IN THE HUNT FOR THE TITLE WITH SOLID, CALCULATED LIFTS!

CONTINUING WITH THE KRESSLYS, DOUG AND JERA ARE ALWAYS GREAT TO HAVE AROUND! THEY COME TO LIFT AND ALWAYS ATTEMPT TO PERFORM AT THEIR BEST. THIS DAY, SADLY, WAS NOT TO THEIR LIKING. SOMETIMES THE EXCITEMENT OF THE DAY MAKES FOR MISCALCULATIONS AND THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS CASE HERE FOR THEM. JERA COULD’NT MANAGE HER OPENER FOR THE TWO HAND, FULTON, CIVATONNE LIFT. HAVING MADE THE SAME WEIGHT IN WARM-UP, SHE WAS NOT ABLE TO PULL IT ON ANY OF HER ATTEMPTS. JERA WOWED THE SPECTATORS WITH HER ONE HAND C/J AND TRAP BAR DL, SO THE DAY WAS NOT A TOTAL LOSS! DOUG MUST HAVE HAD SOME OF THE SAME PORRIDGE AS JERA AS HE COULD’NT MANAGE HIS OPENER ON THE SAME LIFT!! HE WAS PERTURBED BUT CAME BACK ON THE REMAINING LIFTS TO POST GOOD NUMBERS AND SAVE SOME FACE.

ART MONTINI AND DENNY HAYBECKER MADE THE LOOONG TRIP FROM PENNSYLVANIA TO COMPETE. THESE TWO HAVE MADE THEIR WAY TO THE GREAT PLAINES MORE THAN ONCE AND WE ARE AWAYS GLAD TO SEE THESE TWO GENTLEMEN AT OUR GATHERINGS! ART DID HIS USUAL CALCULATED AND SCRIPTED LIFTING. OF HIS NINE ATTEMPTS, I THINK HE MISSED ONLY ONE! THAT IS KNOWING YOURS ABILITIES, FOR SURE! DENNY IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES IN THE USAWA. ALWAYS GREAT TO BE AROUND AND TALK TO, DENNY IS A GIFTED LIFTER. HE APPEARS COMFORTABLE WITH ANY LIFT THAT IS BEING CONTESTED. HIS KNOWLEDGE, BACKROUND AND EXPERIENCE ARE VERY APPARENT.

I AM FAIRLY CERTAIN THAT DEAN ROSS NEVER PRACTICES THE LIFTS PRIOR TO SHOWING UP FOR THE MEETS!! DEAN ALWAYS KEEPS THE CONVERSATION GOING AND NEVER MET A STRANGER. HIS LIFTS WERE SOLID AND UNDER CONTROL. HE, ALSO, DOES MORE THAN HIS FAIR SHARE OF LOADING AND SPOTTING, AS WELL. IT WAS GOOD TO SEE MIKE MURDOCK, AGAIN!! LOOKING VERY SVELTE AT HIS NEW WEIGHT OF 174, HE WAS AIMING AT SOME RECORDS IN HIS NEW FOUND WEIGHT CLASS. MIKE ALWAYS JUMPS IN AND HELPS WHEREVER HE CAN. HE EVEN SAID ‘GOOD-BYE’ TO EVERYONE THIS TIME, WHEN HE LEFT!!

AL MYERS AND CHAD ULLOM, EVER THE TRAVELING COMPANIONS, JUST RETURNED FROM A THREE WEEK LIFTING/THROWING EXTRAVAGANZA IN NORWAY AND EASTERN EUROPE. BOTH WERE PRETTY BEAT UP AND WEARY FORM THE COMPETITIONS AND THE TRAVEL. REGARDLESS, THEY ’COWBOYED UP’ AND HIT THE PLATFORM. AL WAS NURSING A TORN GROIN MUSCLE RESULTING IN VERY TIMID AND CONSERVATIVE LIFTS. THE FACT THAT HE COULD TRAP BAR LIFT AT ALL SURPRISED EVERYONE. AL IS A REAL STUDENT OF THE LIFTS AND LIFTING IN GENERAL, SO HIS LIFTING WAS NOT HAP HAZARD OR RECKLESS. CHAD CONTINUES TO AMAZE ME. HE HAS TO BE THE BEST OVERALL LIFTER AND ATHLETE I HAVE EVER RUN ACROSS. THERE JUST DOES’NT SEEM TO BE ANY LIFT HE DOES’NT DO WELL. HE CARRIED THE DAY AS HE WAS ALWAYS THE LAST LIFTER ON EACH LIFT. THIS BACKFIRED ON HIM, HOWEVER, AS, WHEN HE FINISHED FOR THE DAY, ALL THE FOOD WAS GONE!! I WONDER WHERE IT ALL WENT!?

LARRY TRAUB CAME TO BE A PART OF THE FESTIVITIES FROM INDIANA. HAVING A LONG HISTORY OF SUCCES IN THE POWERLIFTING GAME, HE SLIDES INTO MOST OF THE LIFTS VERY WELL. HOWEVER, HAVING SOME MOBILITY ISSUES AS OF LATE, HE TOOK PRETTY MUCH ‘TOKEN’ LIFTS IN THE TRAP BAR DL. TEAM LEDAIG WOULD NOT BE THE SAME WITHOUT HIS PRESENCE. THE HOST OF THE GAMES, YOURS TRULY, HAD A PRETTY GOOD DAY! HAVING HAD THE CHANCE TO DO THE LIFTS FOR THE PAST SIX WEEKS DID’NT HURT ANYTHING AND BEING ON HOME TURF IS ALWAYS A POSITIVE.

BIG THANKS TO LAVERNE MYERS FOR JUDGING. I WAS GLAD TO SEE HE COULD MAKE IT. WHEN IT WAS ALL SORTED OUT, THE LEDAIG HEAVY ATHLETICS TEAM CARRIED THE DAY FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP!

TEAM SCORES:

LEDAIG HEAVY ATHLETICS 2477.74
DINO GYM 2165.25
HABECKERS 763.54
AMBRIDGE BBC  550.04

ALL IN ALL, A GREAT TIME. I LOOK FORWARD TO HAVING THIS MEET FOR YEARS TO COME, AS WELL!! MANY, MANY THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO CAME OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE TO BE A PART OF THIS MEET! I AM MUCH OBLIGED!!

MEET RESULTS:

USAWA Club Championships
July 19th, 2014
Ledaig HA
Rainbow Bend, Kansas

Meet Director: Dave Glasgow

Official (1-official system used): LaVerne Myers

Scorekeeper: Al Myers

Lifts: Clean and Jerk – One Arm, Deadlift – Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip, Trap Bar Deadlift

1. Ledaig Heavy Athletics – 2477.74 points

LIFTER	AGE	BWT	C&J	DL-FB,CG	TRAP
Alex Whetstone	11	79	22 R	72	105
Draven Kressly	13	131	70 R	182	250
Logan Kressly	16	171	95 R	257	350
Jera Kressly	29	237	80 R	0	350
Doug Kressly	34	285	110 R	0	450
Larry Traub	60	206	70 R	272	500
Dave Glasgow	61	253	105 L	304	450
Mike Murdock	74	172	22 R	142	135

2. Dino Gym – 2165.25 points

LIFTER	AGE	BWT	C&J	DL-FB,CG	TRAP
Chad Ullom	42	253	130 R	327	550
Al Myers	47	236	125 R	327	420
Dean Ross	71	264	0	237	330

3. Habecker’s Gym – 763.54 points

LIFTER	AGE	BWT	C&J	DL-FB,CG	TRAP
Denny Habecker	71	197	75 R	237	330

4. Ambridge BBC – 550.04 points

LIFTER	AGE	BWT	C&J	DL-FB,CG	TRAP
Art Montini	86	176	27 R	152	210

EXTRA LIFTS FOR RECORDS

Jera Kressly: Clean and Jerk – Right Arm 85
Chad Ullom: DL-Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip 342
Dean Ross: DL-Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip 242
Denny Habecker: DL-Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip 242
Alex Whetstone: DL-Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip 82
Alex Whetstone: Trap Bar Deadlift 110
Mike Murdock: Rectangular Fix 55
Mike Murdock: Curl – Reverse Grip 55
Mike Murdock: Curl –  Cheat, Reverse Grip  65

NOTES: AGE is age in years. BWT is bodyweight in pounds. R and L designate right and left arms. All lifts recorded in pounds.