Tag Archives: National Championships

National Championships

By Al Myers

2018 USAWA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Group picture from the 2018 USAWA National Championships in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

Group picture from the 2018 USAWA National Championships in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

For the first time in USAWA history, the USAWA National’s were held in Florida last weekend.  My co-promoter for this event, Dino Gym member Cody Lokken, hosted the Championships at his house in Cocoa Beach! It was a beautiful setting for the meet, less than a block from the beach. I was worried that the turnout would be low, because everyone had to travel and there were no “locals” entered.  However, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of lifters that made the trip.

The Friday night before the meet we had a “meet and greet” at the hotel I was staying at. It was the perfect setting – at an outdoor bar poolside. My wife Leslie picked up several pizzas for the party.  Several of us took a dip in the pool, as well as enjoying several of the local Florida beers the bar had on stock (a stock that we soon ran them out of!).  One of the great things about our organization is the friendships that develop. Often Nationals turns into one big reunion!

It was a special treat this year to have Steve Gardner in attendance.  Steve served 2 terms as IAWA President, and is the best “mic guy” in our IAWA organization.  He spent the entire day emceeing our Championships, of which I want to really thank him for.  We had the best loaders possible with Cale, Cody, and Brandon loading all day PLUS lifting.  That’s a big task! We ran only one session so that kept everyone busy with helping, officiating, and lifting.  This Championships had a great bunch of officials with Denny Habecker, Dennis Mitchell, Eric Todd, LaVerne Myers, Joe Ciavattone Sr, and myself taking turns in the chair.

Highlights I want to mention: Dennis participating in his 29th National Championships, ET hitting a huge pullover and press of 162.5 KG, Joe Jr. putting up the top Zercher Lift of the meet at the end of a hot day, and seeing “the boys” (Cale, Cody, and Brandon) making a return trip to Nationals.  We had several states represented at this meet – Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Pennsyvania, Ohio, and Massachusetts. Also, Cale made the trip from St. Kitts.

It was difficult for all of us not having Art with us at Nationals, as he has always been a steady participant throughout the years.  However,  as we lifted we kept Art’s memory alive and we reminisced about him several times throughout the day.  After the meet, Cody had arranged for the banquet at a fantastic seafood restaurant which was the perfect end for a National Championships that I will never forget.

MEET RESULTS:

2018 USAWA National Championships
Cocoa Beach, Florida
June 23rd, 2018

Meet Director: Al Myers and Cody Lokken

Meet Announcer: Steve Gardner

Meet Scorekeeper: Al Myers

Meet Photographer: Karen Gardner

Meet Caterer: Leslie Myers

Meet Officials (3-official system used): Denny Habecker (head), Al Myers (head), Joe Ciavattone Sr., Dennis Mitchell, Eric Todd, and LaVerne Myers

Meet Loaders: Cale Dunlap, Cody Lokken, Brandon Rein

Lifts: Curl – Cheat, Snatch – One Arm, Pullover and Press, Deadlift – One Arm, Zercher Lift

MENS DIVISION

LIFTER AGE BWT Curl Sna1 P&P DL1 Zer TOT PTS
 Al Myers 51 227 80 55.5R 100 150R 160 546 509.5
Eric Todd 43 252 95 55R 162.5 140R 160 613 503.2
Joe Ciavattone Jr. 25 226 100 55R 137.5 115R 172.5 580 484.7
Joe Ciavattone Sr. 49 236 82.5 47.5R 92.5 115R 140 478 429.2
Denny Habecker 75 186 50 25R 80 101R 80 336 425.5
Cody Lokken 23 167 70 35R 90 85R 100 380 377.5
LaVerne Myers 74 238 55 30L 60 100R 80 325 356.9
Brandon Rein 23 148 45 25R 60 80R 100 310 333.2
Dean Ross 75  248 40 27.5R 70 65R 90 293 316.9
Cale Dunlap 23 177 50 25R 60 65R 90 290 278.5
Dennis Mitchell 86 143 27.5 7.5L 23.5 50L 55 164 264.5

EXTRA ATTEMPTS FOR RECORDS:

Dennis Mitchell: Deadlift – Left Arm 52.5
Dennis Mitchell: Zercher Lift 57.5

Notes: BWT is bodyweight in pounds.  R and L designate right and left arms. Lifts recorded in kilograms. TOT is total kilograms lifted. PTS are overall adjusted points corrected for age and bodyweight.

BEST LIFTER AWARDS:

Senior 20-39 Age Group: Joe Ciavattone Jr.
Masters 40-44 Age Group: Eric Todd
Masters 45-49 Age Group: Joe Ciavattone Sr.
Masters 50-54 Age Group: Al Myers
Masters 70-74 Age Group: LaVerne Myers
Masters 75-79 Age Group: Denny Habecker
Masters 85-89 Age Group: Dennis Mitchell
Overall Best Lifter: Al Myers
Best Club Award: Dino Gym (Al Myers, LaVerne Myers, Cale Dunlap, Brandon Rein, Cody Lokken, Dean Ross)
Club Runner Up: Frank’s Barbell Club (Joe Ciavattone Jr., Joe Ciavattone Sr.)

 

Nationals Reminder

By Al Myers

The USAWA National Championships is right “around the corner”! It won’t be long and several of us will be lifting weights in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Entries have been coming in this past month.  I don’t expect a huge turnout but looks like it will be a good meet from the entries I have already recieved.

Todays story is a REMINDER that the National Entry Deadline is face approaching! The deadline is May 15th which I will adhere to HARD as I need to get the appropriate shirts and awards ordered on May 16th to get them in hand by the meet date.

The location of the meet will be at my co-promoter Cody Lokken’s house at this address:

Cody Lokken
85 June Drive
Cocoa Beach, Florida 32931

Cody has a big garage will high ceilings which should work out great for our Championships.  He lives right across the street from Lori Wilson Beach and Park.  There is plenty of free parking there, with a short walk to his house. Cody and I will supply drinks, snacks, and a noon lunch, which is part of the entry fee.

The award ceremony will occur right after the meet, as well as our USAWA Annual Meeting. Cody is in the process of finding a nice restaurant that we all can go to afterwards for a nice meal. It won’t be an official banquet type setting, but rather an informal social meal. Hopefully it will be on the beach!

I am not recommending any hotels or lodging, as we don’t have a “host” hotel for this Championships.  There plenty of hotels in the vicinity of Cocoa Beach to choose from. As for myself, I plan to stay a couple of days after the meet to enjoy the local sights around Cocoa Beach. There are many things to see and do!

I’m really looking forward to the FIRST EVER USAWA National Championships in Florida.  And remember – if you plan to compete get that entry in soon!!!

National Championships

By Al Myers

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT –

2018 USAWA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

The USAWA National Championships will be going to Cocoa Beach!

The USAWA National Championships will be held at Cocoa Beach!

The date has been set and plans are underway for this years USAWA National Championships.  For the first time in USAWA history, the Nationals will be held in Florida! The plans for this all started on the trip back from Nationals last year in Cleveland.  After I received the bid for the 2018 Nationals, a young lifter from the Dino Gym, Cody Lokken,  said he would sure like to help have the meet where he is moving to in Cocoa Beach, Florida.  Well, that really got me interested – and now it’s going to happen!

Cody is going to be assisting me with this promotion and will be my “inside man” on location in Cocoa Beach securing a venue location and banquet location.  I will do all the admistrative stuff – collect entry forms, getting tshirts made, awards, etc.

The lifts have been selected and approved by the Executive Board.  The lifts are:

Curl – Cheat
Snatch – 1 Arm
Pullover and Press
Deadlift – 1 Arm
Zercher Lift

It will be a one day event this year.  The banquet will follow the Championships on Saturday.  The National Meeting will be planned for Friday night.  Cocoa Beach is just a short drive from Orlando (1 hour), and if you aren’t driving would be the best airport to fly into. Details on venue location and banquet location will be released at a later time.

This meet would be the ideal excuse to plan a summer vacation to Florida this summer.  I’m working on trying to get past IAWA President, Steve Gardner, to attend to be our guest announcer.  Steve is the MASTER WITH THE MIC and if this can happen will be a special treat for our organization.  So take today, put Nationals on your lifting calendar, so you can enjoy a great day of lifting and spending some time in the sun on Cocoa Beach!

USAWA Nationals Entry Form (PDF) –  2018 National Championships Entry Form

National Meet Trivia

By Al Myers

I have just finished updating the history archives with the new “history” from our recent National Championships.  I don’t know if anyone really ever looks at this history archive except me, but it’s something I think is important to our organization – to preserve the history of the USAWA.  The late Dale Friesz was always a big help to me with this as he was a history buff, as I often referred to him as the unofficial historian of the USAWA.  I promised myself that I would keep our history archive going (even though at times it is time consuming) just because I know Dale would have wanted it that way.

So today I’m going to do a little history test, based on information from our history archives. Please take the test yourself and see how you do (without looking up the answers of course!!!) If you score over 75% that means you are a Dale qualified historian or just long in the tooth.  Scoring over 50% should be everyone’s goal, as that means you know a thing or two about the USAWA.  If you are under 25% you should spend some time studying our history archive!!!  Now let the trivia test begin!!!! (Answers will be the topic of tomorrow’s story)

1.  What is the year of the first National Championships?

2.  Name one lift that has been contested in 10 or more National Championships?

3.  Only a handful of USAWA meet promoters have promoted 3 or more Championships, Name one.

4.  Name 5 states that have hosted Nationals.

5.  The 25th anniversary of the Nationals was held where?

6.  Name 3 men lifters who have won Overall Best Lifter at Nationals.

7.  Name 3 women lifters who have won Overall Best Lifter at Nationals.

8.  What month is the most common month Nationals has been held?

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

10. TRUE/FALSE  The USAWA National Championships has always been a two day meet.

My Nationals Weekend

By Al Myers

This is my monster Northern Pike I caught in Canada the week before the meet!

This is my monster Northern Pike I caught in Canada the week before the meet!

This is not intended to be a meet report, but rather “my take” on the Nationals Weekend. First of all, it was a busy week for me as I was on a fly-in fishing trip for trophy Northern Pike way up North in Canada before I even got to Cleveland.  I was worried that I was gonna wear myself out before the meet with all the big fish I caught up there.  Plus, the all you can eat delicious home-style meals served at night (along with the big breakfasts and shore lunches) that I was never going to make weight at the meet.  Well, reeling in those big Pike must have loosened up my shoulders a bit instead, and working hard all day on the lake must have burned more calories than I predicted as I did make my weight class at the meet and was able to do a token clean and push press with my bum shoulders to get a mark in it.

Upon arriving Friday evening from a flight from Saskatoon to Cleveland (luckily it was on schedule) I was greeted at the airport by 3 young Dino Gym lifters who were making their first National Meet appearance. These guys made the 15 hour drive to lift with only 2 stops (oh to be young with a large bladder).  I was greeted with a sign at the airport that said, “Welcome back from rehab, Big Al”. Thus the fun begins.

We all stayed at a lodge in Vermilion that my buddy John McKean had arranged.  John and his family were staying there, and it was right on Lake Erie.  Truly a beautiful place. I had made plans to fish with John after the meet, and believe it or not, John had promised me that he would show me his secret fishing spot. More on that later.

The boys relaxing at the lodge before the meet.

The boys relaxing at the lodge before the meet.

I can’t say enough about the work meet promoters Bob Geib and Scott Schmidt did for this meet.  They ran into problems two weeks before the meet with the venue location in Vermilion being cancelled on them.  Luckily they were able to secure a meet venue at the West Park YMCA in Cleveland at the last minute. And I’m glad they found this spot.  This YMCA was the location of many All Round meets in the past, including past Nationals, put on by Howard Prechtel.  To say it contained USAWA history puts it mildly.  I was honored to be able to lift there.

The weekend of lifting went super smooth.  Everything was on schedule and everyone seemed to have a super time.  Alot of the USAWA veterans were on hand with a fine mix of newcomers to Nationals.  Several registered clubs were represented – Dino Gym, Habeckers Gym, Schmidt Barbell Club, Ambridge Barbell Club, and Frank’s Barbell Club.  One thing that impresses me with our organization is how everyone “jumps in” and helps.  We had a great group of seasoned officials (Frank Ciavattone, Dennis Mitchell, Denny Habecker, Scott Schmidt, LaVerne Myers, and Randy Smith) who officiated both days.  These guys are the “best of the best” amongst USAWA officials which is what we want for our Nationals.  John McKean and myself did the announcing duties, and Judy did the scorekeeping.  Plus what a great group of loaders we had.  Young Aidan Habecker loaded all weekend as well as lifting and what a great job he did!!!  He took charge of the loads and seemed to know exactly what plates needed put on.  Also, got to mention Franklin and Ryan for all the hard work they did, as well as others.  Not a single misload all weekend!

The only injury we had (unfortunately there seems to always be one at Nationals) was newcomer Tim Moore from Cleveland. Tim is a power house and a great guy and I sure hope to see him again in a USAWA meet. He tore his bicep on the second day doing the One Arm Clean and Jerk.  I’ve since heard from Scott that he has had surgery to repair it and is now on the mend.  If it wasn’t for this injury he would have been in contention for a top spot overall.

I was SO GLAD to see Chris Waterman in the meet. I lifted with Chris over 10 years ago in the USAWA at Nationals.  Chris lifted exceptionally (placing 3rd Overall) and looks in fantastic shape. Obviously he hasn’t laid off the weights in his sabbatical from USAWA competition.  The women’s division had two very veteran lifters – Susan Sees and Kathy Schmidt.  In the end Susan pulled out the Overall Best Womens Lifter (her third, other two were 2015 and 2012).  It was great to see the perennial Nationals competitior Randy Smith there.  I always enjoy lifting with Randy (as well as having a few drinks afterwards with him!).  We had a great time catching up on things.  Randy never seems to change – he looks and lifts the same today as he did 15 years ago when we first met.

Art continues to amaze us with his lifting.  Art, along with Dennis Mitchell, both compete in the 85-89 age group. These two guys really impress me how they have been so consistent with their lifting year after year and never missing the National Championships.  Dennis has competed in more USAWA Nationals than anyone in history, a mark I don’t see being broke. That will be a topic for another story in the future.

My dad LaVerne rounded out the Dino Gym Team at Nationals.  After the first lift, the 1 hand VB lift, in which he had the top mark of the meet, he earned the nickname from “the boys” as Pa Vice Grips.

Hanging out with Scott at his home gym!

Hanging out with Scott at his home gym!

After the lifting on Saturday Scott Schmidt invited me over to his house and to see his home gym.  When me and “the boys” got there Kathy had a table full of delicious snacks to welcome us. Thank you Kathy!!!!  Scott then showed us his home gym, which is an unbelievable home training facility. I spent 30 minutes just looking at his gym decor.  I really like to see home gyms as they are very unique and often reflect the personality of the owner.  All Round home gyms are much different than any commercial gym, and Scott’s is one of the best I’ve seen.

The Dino Gym Team - Brandon Rein, Cody Lokken, Cale Dunlap, Al Myers, and LaVerne Myers

The Dino Gym Team – Brandon Rein, Cody Lokken, Cale Dunlap, Al Myers, and LaVerne Myers

I was very excited to see the new Dino Gym guys lift (Cale, Cody, and Brandon).  A funny remark John made at the meet announcing, after he was having a hard time keeping them recognized, was that they seem to “be from the same litter.”  That drew laughter from the crowd.   These young lifters have just started to lift at the Dino Gym and all show great promise.  I felt the pressure of being their coach, and just wanted them to lift well and enjoy the experience.  Friday night before the meet back at the lodge I was visiting with John and told him I better go visit with these young lifters and give them a talk to “settle their pre-meet nerves”.  Put it this way – when I got to the beach where they were hanging out they seemed pretty relaxed drinking bourbon and smoking cigars so the talk wasn’t needed.  Then I started to worry that they were following my example too much!

Bob and Scott planned an exceptional banquet following the meet. It was at a place called the West Park Station.  We got there really early, which was nice, as we were able to enjoy the live band and a few Yuenglings on tap outside on a back patio.  I spent a hour telling “the boys” Chad stories. He’s now a legend in their minds. The banquet food was outstanding and it was a buffet (the only way to go after a meet!). The Awards Ceremony was the highlight of the evening.  The meet awards were outstanding. Plus we gave out the USAWA Yearly Awards at that time.  They let us use the microphone that broadcasted over the entire restaurant – so everyone there heard what was going on!  I noticed people not even associated with our group clapping and cheering.  I was joined in the presentation with Scott and Bob, Frank, and an impromptu surprise speech by Brandon.  A very special moment for me that evening was Frank presenting me the Howard Prechtel Plaque.  Every year, in Howard’s memory we present an annual traveling plaque to someone who the previous years recipient feels is worthy of it for their contributions to the USAWA for the prior year. Frank was last years selection. I’ll be honored next year when I can pass this tribute plaque along to someone else.

Fishing with John McKean!

Fishing with John McKean!

The next day, as promised, John took me, my dad LaVerne, and “the boys” to his secret fishing spot.  I wish he would have told me to wear raingear.  John is a master fisherman and ties his own jigs.   These things look like the real thing and the fish can’t resist them! It wasn’t long before we had caught several fish, including a really nice catfish caught by Brandon. I was picking John’s brain on the art of jigging, and luckily John is one who likes to talk so I was getting some of his secrets out of him. It was a great time but the wind kept picking up till all of us were soaking wet, from head to toe.  As John put it, “it was battle conditions!”

The boys eyes were open wide when the feast was served!

The boys eyes were open wide when the feast was served!

The next day we made the long drive home, all in one day but with more stops than two. We made a sightseeing stop in Indianapolis at the Indy Speedway ( “the boys” are big Nascar fans) and at my favorite BBQ place in Columbia, Missouri for supper. I ordered up a large feast fit for Kings, and then as the last bit of coaching I did for the weekend, made the boys eat it all.  Great times!!!!!

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