USAWA

A week ago, we highlighted the Women’s Leadership Award winner, and much of what was said there could be applied to the Men’s 2026 Leadership Award Winner, Sanjiv Gupta. But, like many who exhibit leadership qualities, Sanjiv’s contributions are unique to him. Sanjiv came into the USAWA and established what is to-date our western-most club, High Country Vigour. We’ll have more to say about the club later, but Sanjiv leads the club with vigour (we’ll keep the British spelling). His gym has hosted or co-hosted some of the eight championship meets central to the USAWA’s calendar. He and his gym partners have come up with a couple more meets as well. Personally, he’s encouraged his daughters to compete and been a champion for finding fairer ways to compare women’s and men’s results. As a competitor, he accumulated 216 records as of the 2^nd Quarter, enough to be in the top 20 for men all-time (18^th). Anyone following his competitive trajectory has seen that he’s getting stronger and defying father time. He encourages remote participation in meets hosted at his gym and participates in other gym meets. He’s served the USAWA on the Executive Committee as Secretary and currently, Vice President. He is a key link between the USAWA and the IAWA – and has traveled to worlds outside the USA. He also writes often for the USAWA encouraging more participation or bringing to our attention a great topic for conversation. Voters this year noted his devotion to the health and vigour of the USAWA. He recently came to Nationals and ran the meeting very well. By day – he works as an engineer for the Colorado Department of Transportation. Congratulations to the 2026 USAWA Men’s Leadership Award winner, Sanjiv Gupta!

By Sanjiv Gupta

In the spirit of building camaraderie and connection, the following is my personal meet report.

I am not particularly fond of traveling, but the National Championship is a big deal.  Nisha and I flew into St. Louis Friday morning and made our way to Columbia after picking up a rental car.  Travel was surprisingly easy and I even had time for a short nap before heading to dinner.

Bill Clark and the entire Clark’s Gym family always create a welcoming atmosphere and the staff at D. Rowe’s has been serving excellent pulled pork for a long time.  I was glad to see the National Meeting was well attended with (21) members in attendance and several others sending discussion notes with other members.  With the USAWA President unavailable, I did my best to preside over the meeting.  I would like to think everybody felt heard.

One day competitions are tough.  I never sleep well and am always very conservative with my openers. I tend to relax and get more aggressive as competition unfolds.  Lifting was loosely broken up into three flights with Nisha and Logan lifting together, Neveah, Christian, Tony, Everett, Jessica and Allison lifting together and finally Larry, Abe, Jayden, Drew, Jeff, Riley, Jarrod, Chad, Phil and I lifting together.  Rising bar was waived and everybody did 1^st attempts, followed by 2^nd attempts and ultimately 3^rd attempts.  No fourth attempts were given.

I enjoyed watching Nisha lift but was not a very good lifting parent and did not capture any of her age group, ALL or NAT record lifts.  I was extremely impressed by the poise all of the junior lifters showed.  Neveah was constantly surprising me with great numbers for any athlete, but especially so for a 14-year old.  Jayden had some miscues on early attempts, but ended up putting together a remarkable 1066 total that was good for 3^rd place against a stacked men’s field.  Everett brought his A-game as usual.  His best lift had to be the 235-pound Jefferson Lift.  The younger Wenzels (Logan and Dylan) were impressive as well, but it is hard for me to gauge 13 and under lifting.  My kids did not start until high school.

The women put on an amazing show.  With the sure handed guidance of Larry, both Neveah and Christian set up well, took smart attempts and left their best on the platform.  Jessica is a seasoned lifter and competed well despite not having the Frank’s Barbell Club crew supporting her from the sidelines.  Allison could practically be considered a newcomer having only competed for a few years, but she always brings her best effort the platform.

The men’s field was stacked as usual.  Larry defended his title with consistent, textbook lifts.  Abe is a past National Champion as well and brought his best lifts to take second place.  Drew was an incredible athlete setting records across the board in the 125+ class.  I was relieved to not be loading for this flight.  Jeff Wenzel is the athlete of the year for the past two years and proved again why he is one of the best, taking 5^th overall.  Riley had an impressive day as one of the lighter bodyweight men in the field.  Riley put up a 350 pound Jefferson Lift, which rivaled men who outweighed him by 70 pounds.  I was so excited that Jarrod could come to Nationals.  I always enjoy our conversations and lifting in the friendly confines of my garage, but there is still magic on the platform.  He was aggressive with his attempts, as usual, finishing with an outstanding 932 pound total.  I was really glad Chad could make it out and lift despite a recent shoulder surgery.  Tony was pulling double duty, keeping score and competing.  He had excellent lifts across the board.  When I have tried to be meet director, score keeper and athlete, I have had little success.  Phil Marlin is an amazing athlete who unfortunately scratched the Deadlift, No Thumbs, Overhand Grip.  His 505 pound Jefferson Lift was the second highest of the day and a testament to what his future performances will hold.

Personally, I went 11 for 12 on the platform.  My 305 pound Deadlift, No Thumb Overhand grip was a personal best.  I was super excited to Clean & Press 135 pounds.  Heels together never seems like much of a challenge, except when I am waiting for a down command.  The Lateral Raise is an OK lift for me, but it does put strain on the shoulders when performed correctly.  Finally, my 345-pound Jefferson Lift was the only lift where I could not set a record.  Larry Traub will continue to hold it at 529 pounds.

After the competition, everybody chipped in to move equipment out to the trucks, take pictures and say goodbyes.  Nisha and I went out for a nice lunch and did some shopping and then settled in for the night having to drive back to St. Louis in the morning for our flight home.

Our Lady of Lourdes was a great venue and I was very relieved that there was not any damage as a result of the warm-up and competition areas.

I am looking forward to next year’s National Championship that will be hosted by Ledaig Heavy Athletics in Kansas.   

Please consider generating meet reports or putting together notes from training sessions and submitting them to usawasec@gmail.com for publication on the website.

Look up ‘leadership’ in the dictionary and you’ll find “the action of leading a group of people or an organization”. This describes the Women’s 2026 USAWA Leadership Award winner, Jessica Hopps. She’s a competitor in any meet or quarterlies and has a couple meet wins this year, including the Second for Women Only meet back in May. She’s currently 9^th overall in USAWA women’s division records with 157. She even made the 1000+ mile trip to Columbia MO to compete at the 2026 USAWA Nationals. She’s also won USAWA Lifter of the Month. And in August of 2026, she will be inducted into the New England All Round Weightlifting Hall of Fame. But, there’s much more to Jessica than her athletic ability. To me a leader is someone who gives their time and energy to their unit without asking for anything in return. Jessica loves working with and challenging people and is very good at it. And the Frank’s Barbell Club members appreciate all she does for them. “She takes care of all of us with our lifting needs and paperwork, I can’t say enough about her”. She brings to the Club the great atmosphere that made Frank’s one of the club of the year winners last year. They all agree she is deserving. And she does all that while working a great many hours in her day jobs, one of which is serving the mental health community in the Boston area and the other is teaching at a local college in the same area. Congratulations to Jessica Hopps our Women’s 2026 USAWA Leadership Award winner.