USAWA

By Bill Clark

The Second Annual Bench Press Decathlon drew a crowd of 16 USAWA/IAWA lifters from three countries and five states – 10 in person and six remote (two sending videos) in the first hybrid competition in the USAWA – and a forerunner (we all hope) of the way things will be in the near future.

Tony Hose successfully defended his title, slipping past Dave Beversdorf for the second year in a row.

Sylvia Stockall-Douglas of Victoria, British Columbia, took the women’s title (via video), edging past two Coloradoans – R.J. Jackson and Kim Van Wagner.

It was good seeing Joe Garcia back in competition after a 16-month battle with covid-19 and the severe after-effects. He finished one spot above Ol’ Clark, who wound up in 13^th spot – and happy to make a total.

Wyatt Sawyers made the drive from Tulsa for the second time in six weeks and brought along a former collegiate diver from the University of West Virginia, 28-year-old Logan McHenry, who had a day-long battle before losing to 22-year-old Nick Frieders by a slim 17 ½ points.

A new name to consider is Jeff Wenzil, a member of Clark’s Gym in Columbia, who was a loader in this meet a year ago. Jeff came in third behind his mentor, Dave Beversdorf.

The women’s competition was interesting – three lifters aged 55 and above.

The winner, Sylvia Stockall-Douglas, a 65-year-old from Victoria, British Columbia (that’s on Vancouver Island), actually lost one of her lifts to video when she failed to reach parallel in the Roman Chair bench, but still finished just ahead of two Colorado lifters – R.J. Jackson and Kim Van Wagner. Jackson is 61 and Van Wagner is a mere child at 55.

As a sidebar to this meet were a couple of comments that were welcomed by the meet director. Both Wyatt Sawyers and Phil Marlin voiced the same words: “I’m glad I found the USAWA.” Both lifted in  the Zercher Strength Classic and both made special trips to Columbia prior to the Zercher meet to do a full run-through of those 13 lifts before entering the competition.

Marlin will miss the USAWA Nationals in June. He will be in New Delhi, India, on a church mission assignment, but plans to be on hand for the Deadlift Dozen in the fall.

Sawyers, who manages a Crossfit gym in Tulsa  and competes in Crossfit, plans to be at the Nationals and hopes to be leading a new club in Tulsa. FYI – many of the lifts done in Crossfit are USAWA lifts and Crossfit uses the USAWA rules for those lifts.

From the point of view of this co-founder of the IAWA, I was moved by the mood of the 10 lifters who came together in Clark’s Gym, loading, officiating, coaching, and cheerleading as a team. We ran off almost 300 lifts in just over three hours – on one bench – a good warm -up for Ol’ Clark as he looks ahead at the Nationals in late June.

Next up on the Clark’s Gym agenda is the Diamond Jubilee – open only to those who have celebrated their 75^th birthday anniversary.

Officials were Tiny Lupo, Dave DeForest and Bill Clark.

Results are as follows (Lifters marked with an asterisk (*) are not eligible for records for this meet: