For this year’s championship, we tried something different. I got a call from Big Frank Ciavattone a few months back suggesting a meet with multiple locations. This year we hosted on at my house in the Kansas City area and one at Frank’s gym in the Boston area. WE had a total of 13 lifters with seven at my place and six at Frank’s. I was unsure of how the logistics would work out in regard to getting results tallied in a timely fashion with me having to get his results from him digitally, but it worked famously. In the 32 years since this meets inception, there have been nine unique women’s champions and thirteen unique men’s champions. This year, Jessica Hopps defended her title against former women’s champion, Mary McConnaughey. Mary was returning to competition after about a ten-year sabbatical. After many top three finishes, Chad Ullom found his way to the top of the podium in his first championship effort. He bested Abe Smith, who was also a former champion, having won the title back in 2001.The lifting was fierce, and the comradery fantastic. Below are the results:
Heavy Lift Championship ET’s House of Iron and Stone Turney, MO May 10, 2025
Meet Director: Eric Todd
Meet Announcer: Eric Todd
Score Keeper: Eric Todd
The hostess with the mostest and sandwich maker/deliverer: Phoebe Todd
2025 marks the return of the Club Championship which had not been contested since 2019. This is a great format where clubs total their top three lifters to form an adjusted total and bragging rights as the strongest club of the year.
From 2010-2012 it had been hosted at Ambridge Barbell Club. From 2013-2019 it had been contested at Ledaig Heavy Athletics. Beyond the host clubs only four other clubs had competed in the Club Championship (Atomic Athletics, Dino Gym, Habecker’s Gym and Joe’s Gym).
In 2025, we tried something different allowing lifter to lift live at High Country Vigour or submit results remotely. There was only one taker with Clark’s Championship Gym submitting an entry.
Also new since the last time the event was hosted, was the 1.33 gender modifier. Women had competed in the past but were at a disadvantage when contributing to the team total.
Clark’s Championship Gym brought a full squad of (11) athletes lifting in Missouri and Michigan, including powerhouse, Randy Smith. The team included (3) Junior athletes, (2) Open athletes and (7) masters athletes. Clark’s Gym also had the oldest and youngest athletes at 70 years old and 10 years old respectively. Notably absent was Abe Smith, defending National Overall Best Lifter and Athlete of the Year, who was recovering from some injuries. Surprisingly present was Tony Lupo competing with a bad shoulder and torn pec and Randy Smith competing with a recent hamstring injury.
High Country Vigour had (4) athletes lifting in Colorado, (3) seasoned masters athletes and (1) newcomer who is calmly starting to set records in the 16–17-year-old age group after a birthday in February.
In Colorado, we had some exciting lifting and fourth attempts for records. Nisha had an impressive 50-pound Zercher after some really sketchy warm-ups. Jarrod had a massive 102-pound fourth attempt Turkish Get Up which is an all-age class record at 100kg (he also owns the 85kg and 95kg all age class records). Kim had a scary moment with a missed Turkish Get Up that came down on her non-lifting wrist. She showed tremendous courage finishing the meet with not only a solid 143-pound competition deadlift, but also a fourth attempt 153 pounds to extend her all age class 60kg record.
We also had some amusing struggles with the Turkish Get Up. Nisha’s technique went from the ground to a squat stance without passing through a kneeling position. Sanjiv’s final attempt somehow had both knees on the ground before going into a kneeling position and driving up.
Top Individual Lifts
Best Dumbbell Snatch – 95 pounds by Jeff Wenzel
Best Zercher – 335 pounds by Jeff Wenzel
Best Turkish Get Up – 92 pounds by Jarrod Fobes
Best Deadlift, Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip – 268 pounds by Randy Smith
Final Standings:
1st – Clark’s Championship Gym
2nd – High Country Vigour
Clark’s Gym having won the Club Championship has earned the option to host the 2026 Club Championships.
Meet Results:
USAWA Club Championship
High Country Vigour
Lakewood, Colorado
April 5, 2025
Meet Director – Sanjiv Gupta
Officials – Jarrod Fobes, Sanjiv Gupta, Bill Clark, Tony Lupo, Dave DeForest, Jeff Wenzel
Scorekeeper – Sanjiv Gupta
Lifts: Snatch, Dumbbell, One Arm; Zercher; Turkish Get Up; Deadlift, Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip
