Monthly Archives: May 2012

USAWA History – 1991 Nationals

by Al Myers

This was the Ambridge Barbell Clubs first promotion of the USAWA National Championships. Art Montini and John McKean were the meet directors.  This meet at Ambridge drew 34 lifters, which is one of the best turnouts in the history of the USAWA National Championships.  Ambridge BBC ran away with the team title, as well as Art Montini taking the overall best lifter award. Steve Schmidt was the top Open lifter with a point total of 2270.1 points.  At 63 years of age, Art ended up with a total age/bodyweight adjusted points of 2500.0.  Frank Ciavattone had the best total of the day with 6105 pounds.  This appeared to me to be a very difficult meet over the course of two day with 3 chains involved – Neck, Hand and Thigh, and the Hip.  Add on other “tough lifts” like the Hack Lift, Steinborn, and the Zercher Lift, and this National Meet could have been the HARDEST National Meet ever!!

Several elite USAWA members made their National Meet debut here – Joe Ciavattone, Bob Geib, John Monk, Rex Monahan, and John Kurtz.

MEET RESULTS

1991 USAWA National Championships
July 13-14, 1991
Ambridge, Pennsylvania

Meet Director: Art Montini and John McKean

Lifts: One-Hand Clean and Jerk, Hack Lift, Pullover and Push, Steinborn, Hand and Thigh, Continental Snatch, One-Hand Deadlift, Zercher Lift, Neck Lift, Hip Lift

Men: Top Ten Placings
1. Art Montini, Pennsylvania
2. Bill DiCioccio Sr., Pennsylvania
3. Steve Schmidt, Missouri
4. Barry Bryan, Pennsylvania
5. Roger Lynch, Massachusetts
6. John McKean, Pennsylvania
7. Jim Malloy, Ohio
8. Joe Garcia, Missouri
9. John Monk, Pennsylvania
10. Frank Ciavattone, Massachusetts

Women: Top Three Placings
1. Jeanne Burchett, Pennsylvania
2. Noi Phumchaona, Ohio
3. Suree Hughes, Ohio

Best Lifter Awards:
Women Masters – Jeanne Burchett
Women Open – Jeanne Burchett
Men Junior – Robbie McKean
Men 20-39 Age Group – Steve Schmidt
Men 40-44 Age Group – Paul Montini
Men 45-49 Age Group – John McKean
Men 50-54 Age Group – Bill DiCioccio Sr.
Men 55-59 Age Group – Dennis Mitchell
Men 60-64 Age Group – Art Montini
Men 65-69 Age Group – Howard Prechtel
Men Master – Art Montini
Men Open – Steve Schmidt

World Record Clean and Press

by Roger LaPointe

This is the series of pictures showing Dave Polzin's WR Clean and Press of 90 KG.

You want world records? We’ve got’em.

This year’s Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic hosted the USAWA Heavy Lifts Championships, where 8 World Records were broken.

Two of the World Records were done as extra lifts. One of the beauties of the US All-Round Weightlifting Association is having the opportunity to add in extra lifts that are not on the regular agenda. One such lift was the classic Clean & Press.

Dave Polzin was the lifter. He trains with the Atomic Athletic Club at the new Atomic Athletic Training Center. Dave’s first meet in the All Rounds took place at last year’s Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic, but this was far from the beginning of his lifting career. In fact, Dave’s first weightlifting competition was in Olympic Weightlifting, when the Clean & Press was still part of the Olympics. Dave was quite a presser, pushing up over 300 pounds. Unfortunately, right after that meet, the Press was eliminated from Olympic competition. However, as a football player for Defiance College, Dave continued to do the press in his training.

Dave achieved some real success in Olympic style weightlifting, reaching national level in the late 70s and early 80s. He usually lifted in the 110 kg weight class, placing as high as second at the US Nationals. His by clean was 202.5 kg (446.5 lbs.). Dave quit competition by the mid-1980s, with many of his friends trying to get him to lift as a Masters age athlete.

It took the “odd lifts” of the USAWA to get him back into competition mode again. Last year’s Strongman Picnic included the One Hand Barbell Deadlift and the Clean & Push Press, where he set records in both lifts. Now Dave Polzin has caught the bug for all round weightlifting.

This past weekend, the Heavy Lifts Championships were not enough for Dave. He also wanted to break the Clean & Press record, which he did in fine style. He practiced the Hand & Thigh Lift with us at the Atomic Athletic Club, but we didn’t have harnesses for the Neck Lift or the Hip Lift, so Dave learned from the other lifters that day. When he finished he went 2 for 3 in the Clean & Press, breaking the record twice, where the new record now stands at 90 Kg (198 lbs.) for the 100 kg wt. Class and 60+ age group. Dave is already pushing for the next meet here at Atomic Athletic.

Live strong, Roger LaPointe

USAWA History – 1990 Nationals

by Al Myers

(WEBMASTERS NOTE:  The following meet report was written by Bill Clark in the Strength Journal, Vol. 1 No. 5.  Our current USAWA President Denny Habecker made his USAWA National debut in this meet, as well as other famous USAWA members like Dale Friesz, Jim Malloy, Barry Bryan, Barry Pennsyl, and Chris Waterman.  )

USAWA Nationals A Record-Breaker!

More than 225 records were set or matched in a great two-day session of the USAWA National Championships at the Downtown YMCA in Akron, Ohio, on July 15-16.

To pinpoint one top lifter at the expense of the others would be unfair…so many did so many record attempts.

Barry Bryan was the top male lifter, winning the 85 KG class easily.  The 32-year-old Pennsylvanian set records in eight of the 10 events during the two long days and saw his total of 1714.32 kilos topped only by a pair of much heavier lifters.  His 1603.06 points was 150 points better than anyone else.

The women’s title went to 52-year-old Jeanne Burchett of Baden, Pa., with an 18-record effort in the 60 KG class.  She topped her outstanding two-day session with a great hand and thigh lift of 552 1/2 pounds.

Art Montini continued to dominate the masters. The 62-year-old from Aliquippa, Pa., continues to make tremendous gains.  His 1588 points placed him well ahead of his team mate, John McKean, from the Ambridge, Pa., VFW  WL Club.  Bill DiCiccio of Ambridge was third among the masters. 

Robbie McKean, John’s 11-year-old son, was the outstanding junior.  He set nine age group records in the 10-13 age group and tied a 10th.

Cleveland’s Olympic Health Club (John Schubert, Howard Prechtel, etc) took the team title in spirited battle with Ambridge and John Vernacchio’s Valley Forge WLC.  Missing from the action were the clubs from the Midwest and defending Champ, Steve Schmidt.

Attilio Alacchi did a tremendous job – with big assists from the Cleveland crew – in putting on the third annual USAWA get-together.  And, as always, the guy who does the work never gets to lift and enjoy the meet as he has done the past two years. Thanks to you, Attilio, for all you did for the USAWA.

MEET RESULTS

1990 USAWA National Championships
July 15-16, 1990
Akron, Ohio

Meet Director: Attilio Alacchi

Lifts: Clean and Press – Heels Together, Front Squat, Continental to Chest, Pullover and Push, Neck Lift, One-Hand Snatch, Bench Press Feet in Air, One-Arm Deadlift, Hand and Thigh, Zercher Lift

Men: Top Ten Placings
1. Barry Bryan, Pennsylvania
2. Art Montini, Pennsylvania
3. Frank Ciavattone, Massachusetts
4. Jim Bufalini, Pennsylvani
5. Don Verterosa, Massachusetts
6. John Vernacchio, Pennsylvania
7. John McKean, Pennsylvania
8. Chris Waterman, Ohio
9. Jim Malloy, Ohio
10. Bill DiCioccio Sr., Pennsylvania

Women: Top Three Placings
1. Jeanne Burchett, Pennsylvania
2. Noi Phumchaona, Ohio
3. Suree Hughes, Ohio

Best Lifter Awards:
Women Master Overall – Jeanne Burchett
Women Open Overall – Jeanne Burchett
Men Junior – Robbie McKean
Men 20-39 Age Group – Barry Bryan
Men 40-44 Age Group – John McKean
Men 45-49 Age Group – Jim Malloy
Men 50-54 Age Group – John Vernacchio
Men 55-59 Age Group – Gonzalo Gonzales
Men 60-64 Age Group – Art Montini
Men 65-69 Age Group – Howard Prechtel
Men Master Overall – Art Montini
Men Open Overall – Barry Bryan

Awesome Strongman Picnic

by Roger LaPointe

Jeff "Chain Breaker" Bankens performed various strongman feats through out the day of the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic. Here he is tearing license plates one after another!!!

Performing strongmen, barbeque, broken records and good friends, what more can you ask from a Saturday afternoon? We had it all.  Summing up one of the Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnics is nearly impossible, but just like the event, I will try to pull it off.

The USAWA Heavy Lifts Championships were going on throughout the day, with records being broken left and right. In case you don’t know the lift order, it went like this: Neck Lift, Hand & Thigh Lift and the Hip Lift finished it off. However, sandwiched in there were a couple of invitational record breaker lifts: the One Hand Barbell Snatch and the 2 Hand Clean & Press, just for a little variety.

We also had some informal Open Competitions. We started off with a little kids Farmers Walk, where they used a pair of 10 Pound Kettlebells. You would be hard pressed to find a lifting event higher on the cuteness scale. All of the kids did a great job and showed great sportsmanship. We also had a Farmers Walk with 190 pound competition units and a Repetition Deadlift with a 309 Pound Barbell. Of course, the Atlatl demo had to be paused so we could use the field. Everyone loved the spear throwing with the primitive tools. I do try to get something in there that is a little off the wall, even for this group.

Punctuating all of this we had Jeff “Chain Breaker” Bankens, all the way from Louisiana, doing bits and pieces of his act that he does on the road, including a classic water bottle routine. This is the first time I had seen that done live.  In the Atomic Athletic Training Center we had Sensei Mike Sherman, of American Kenpo, giving a competition kettlebell seminar and mini-competition. While people were there, they bought T-shirts, posters and equipment… all to the smell of free popcorn and cotton candy, a favorite of the kids.

A great time was had by all. I would like to give a special thanks to everyone who helped out, especially Dennis Habecker and Al Myers, who each managed and brought equipment for the Heavy Lifts Championships, as well as Jeff Rybek, who managed loading the weights. There were many other people who helped out as well, but in addition to special expertise, these moved some real weight in the sun. Loaders, administrators and referees rarely get much credit. Just to give you an idea, the heaviest lift was a 2075 Hip Lift…

Make sure to keep checking out the Atomic Athletic web site, USAWA Facebook page and the Atomic Athletic Facebook page for more updates.

Live strong, Roger LaPointe

ET’s 905 Neck Lift!

by Al Myers

Eric Todd established a new Overall World Record Neck of 905# at the 2012 Heavy Lift Championships. Longtime allrounder John Kurtz is in the background watching this impressive lift.

I didn’t think it would be possible – seeing Chad’s big WR Neck Lift of 900 pounds get broke so soon.  But it did happen, and just like last year, happened at the event highlighting the chain lifts, the Heavy Lift Championships.  Eric Todd, of Cameron Missouri, put up successful lifts last weekend in the Neck Lift of 700#, 800#, 860#, and then with his extra record set the record with a lift of 905#!  As I said yesterday, the 900 barrier is now the level to shot for to be considered as “one of the best” in the Neck Lift. I always knew ET might have this ability in him.  He is a former wrestler and has a neck like a NFL linebacker.  I also knew he had the mental toughness to not be intimidated by this large amount of weight.  He made the lift rather easily as well.  Congratulations Eric on setting this new record!!!

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