USAWA

By Eric Todd

The record lists are updated. My apologies to Scottish Johnny and Sanjiv, as well as the general membership for the delay. When I was sent this update, they notified me of a new century club member. It is no surprise that Beth Skwarecki is now a member of the century club, and not just barely. In what must be almost record time, Beth has accumulated 144 USAWA records. Not only is she incredibly strong, but her proficiency in the lifts is hard to match. That, and she has served in a few leadership roles in the USAWA. She jumps over Phoebe Todd and Susan Sees to take the number 4 spot in the women’s division. Phoebe jumped up 20 records to overtake Susan.

In the men’s division, King Denny is still dominating the class with 659 records. The biggest movers in this class are Abe Smith moving from 17th to 14th with 37 additional records. Dave DeForest went from a tie for 28th to 21st with an additional 34 records. And Jeff Ciavattone jumped from 26th to 20th with an additional 26 records.

Here is the link to the page to find this information:

By Clint Poore

The inaugural Buffville Push/ Pull was a roaring success with tremendous high caliber lifting by all the lifters. 

      First, I must Thank the two people the meet would not have happened without, Ashley Stearns & Patrick Hadley! My training partners Ashley & Patrick spotted and loaded the entire day and did an excellent job making sure everything went smoothly! Thank you guys, you are AWESOME!

 Stephen Santangelo came from Florence, Kentucky and did some magnificent feats of strength during the record day portion! He is a superb masters lifter with exceptional grip strength!

Now for the competition lifting and in proper order, ladies first.

      In the Women’s division we had two competitors, Sarah Waites and Wendy Gardner, both of whom competed in the Open division as well. Both ladies did a spectacular job lifting. Sarah pulled a voluminous 320 lb People’s Deadlift for the win in the Women’s division. Wendy pulled a strong 200 lb People’s Deadlift, which with a little more training will go up significantly. A rematch between these two ladies looks to be looming at the 2023 Old Time Strongman World Championships in just a few short weeks. It shall be exciting to witness.

In our Special Olympics division we had two lifters, Will Haydon & Sam Lasure. Both Sam & Will competed in the Open division as well. Sam and Will put up very powerful numbers. Sam did Hackenschmidt Floor Press of 85 lbs and Deadlifted a solid 135 lbs for 2^nd place in the Special Olympics division, Our Special Olympics winner was Will Haydon, He Hackenschmidt Floor Pressed 140 lbs and People’s Deadlifted a robust 225 lbs. Great job guys and I hope to see you at another meet again soon!

      In the open division beginning in 14^th place was the meet director, Clint Poore. He recently had rotator cuff surgery and was just glad to start slowly competing again. Look for Clint & Holland Millsaps to renew their rivalry on December, which is more valuable a Big Hackenshcmidt Floor Press or a Gargantuan Dinnie Stone Deadlift? We shall soon see!

      13^th and 12^th place in the Open was Sam Lasure (13th) & Will Haydon (12^th) with acknowledgements made previously.  11^th and 10^th place was Wendy Gardner (11^th) & Sarah Waites, (10th). Also previously recognized above. 

      In 9^th place was the man who designed the glorious Buffville meet banner, David Tompkins. David entered the meet on short notice, but put up excellent number’s with a 185 HFP and a 300 lb deadlift! 

      In 8^th place the man who has earned the title of the World’s Strongest Ordained Minister, Randy Richey! In his first meet in a long time, the president of the Omega Force Strength team did a 200 HFP & a whopper 405 lb People’s Deadlift!

      In 7^th place was a new lifter, Brian Guffey. Who at a 126 lb bodyweight performed a 200 HFP and double bodyweight 320 People’s deadlift, stout lifting indeed!

      In 6^th place was Ashley Stearns, who pressed a solid 295 lbs and pulled a mighty 450 lbs. Ashley is a superbly strong man at a 182 lb bodyweight!

      In 5^th place was Patrick Hadley, who was firing on all cylinders this day! He HFPed 315 lbs and pulled 450 lbs like it was LIGHTWEIGHT, in the words of Ronnie Coleman!

      In 4^th place was Brian Gardner, he had the biggest Hackenschmidt Floor Press of the day with 365lbs and a quarter of a ton deadlift, 500 lbs! 

      The top 3 begins with Holland Millsaps. He had a vigorous 350 lb HFP and then pulled a mammoth 650 lb People’s Deadlift, the heaviest pull of the day! He barely missed a 700 lb deadlift on his third attempt. Since then he has sworn by the gates of Ragnarok, a 700 lb Dinnie Stone Deadlift is coming at the 2023 Old Time Strongman World Championships on December 9th. May the glory of Valhalla lead your way to a glorious purpose and a monstrous deadlift soon!

      In 2^nd place was Francis Hegel, with a 285 lb HFP and 536 lb USAWA National Open/All Record in the 80 kilo weight class! Phenomenal lifting by Francis!

       The Buffville Push/Pull champion was the Chip Hultquist, where at 73 years young he put on a clinic of what meet consistency is all about. He crushed a 225 lb HFP and then lifted an astonishing 365 People’s Deadlift heavenward! It was a glorious sight to behold his legendary strength on display! This mighty senior citizen took all of us to school on this majestic day in Buffville Gym! 

      In closing, the 2023 Buffville Push/Pull was nothing short of epic on performances and downright neighborly in the atmosphere!

      Thank you to all who attended and I hope to see you again at the 2024 Buffville Push/Pull!

      Peace Be Upon You!

By Sanjiv Gupta

Beth Skwarecki, Kim Van Wagner and Sanjiv Gupta had a chance to compete in the 11^th Annual International King Kong Grip Challenge (October 28, 2023).  This is an international competition hosted at multiple venues around the world and included 182 male and 40 female competitors.  Beth competed in Pittsburgh, PA; Kim and Sanjiv competed in Carbondale, CO.  This year’s implements included: 

• 2.25 inch Crusher (Fat Bastard Barbell Company (FBBC)) 
• Pinch Block (IronMind) 
• Finnish Ball (Otevoima) 
• 2.5” Jug (FBBC) 

The implements allowed athletes to showcase grip strength in the spirit of all-round weightlifting with a combination of technique, specific training and raw strength.  A big burly athlete may struggle to understand how to lift an implement that a showman with excellent technique can lift with ease.  The Crusher has often been compared to the Thomas Inch Dumbbell in difficulty as it wants to roll out of your hand.  Some notable lifts include Beth with a 40.82 kg lift on the Crusher, Kim with a 19.50 kg lift on the Finnish Ball and Sanjiv with a 21.90 lift on the Pinch Block. 

Beth finished 8^th among 72kg women, Kim finished 3^rd among 57 kg women and Sanjiv finished 19^th among 93 kg men. 

Dino Gym has hosted the USAWA Grip Championships since 2011 with some impressive USAWA lifts.  In 2023 Frank’s Barbell Club hosted the New England Grip Classic.  There are some very challenging USAWA lifts that are limited by the athlete’s grip strength. 

Apologies if you participated in the King Kong Grip Challenge and your results were not included, please contact Sanjiv Gupta to be included in a revised write-up. 

This year’s World Council meeting was held in Australia in conjunction with the World Championship. Below are the minutes from this meeting: