Tag Archives: Club Championships

Club Championships

BY DAVE GLASGOW

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS ON THE GREAT PLAINES

Group picture of the lifters from the 2014 USAWA Club Championships.

FOUR CLUBS AND THREE STATES WERE REPRESENTED AT THE USAWA CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS, HOSTED BY THE LEDAIG HEAVY ATHLETICS, IN RAINBOW BEND, KS. THOSE PARTICIPATING RANGED IN AGE FROM ELEVEN TO EIGHTY SEVEN! QUITE A RANGE. YET, THERE WERE GREAT LIFTS POSTED BY ALL WHO COMPETED.

ALEX WHETSTONE HAD NEVER DONE ANY OF THE LIFTS PRIOR TO THE MEET DAY. HE WAS GIVEN A CRASH COURSE ON THE LIFTS BY HIS UNCLE, 9 TIME MASTERS NATIONAL POWER LIFTING CHAMPION , LARRY ‘FLOYD’ TRAUB AND HIS GRANPA, DAVE GLASGOW. FOR ONE SO YOUNG AND WITH NO EXPERIENCE, WE ALL THOUGHT HE DID VERY WELL! I DOUBT VERY SERIOUSLY IF WE HAVE SEEN THE LAST OF HIM!

ANOTHER NEW CAST MEMBER TO THE LEDAIG TEAM AND THE USAWA IS DREVON KRESSLY. YOU WILL SOON NOTICE THAT THE MAJORITY OF THE MEMBERS OF TEAM LEDAIG ARE KRESSLYS AND DREVON ADDED A NEW FACE! WHAT A GREAT, YOUNG TALENT THIS KID IS!! VERY UNASSUMING AND SOFT SPOKEN, DREVON WAS SHOWED THE ‘SPLIT’ TECHNIQUE FOR THE ONE ARM C/J AND THEN PROCEDED TO PERFORM IT TO PERFECTION ON HIS VERY NEXT LIFT!! IMPRESSIVE! HE HAS THAT POWER/QUICKNESS QUALITY THAT YOU CAN’T TRAIN OR TEACH. VERY GOOD TO HAVE HIM ABOARD. DREVON’S BROTHER, LOGAN, SHOWED UP AND DID VERY WELL, ALSO. HAVING RETURNED FROM NATIONALS LAST MONTH, HE IS NO STRANGER TO THE USAWA. HE KEPT THE LEDAIG TEAM IN THE HUNT FOR THE TITLE WITH SOLID, CALCULATED LIFTS!

CONTINUING WITH THE KRESSLYS, DOUG AND JERA ARE ALWAYS GREAT TO HAVE AROUND! THEY COME TO LIFT AND ALWAYS ATTEMPT TO PERFORM AT THEIR BEST. THIS DAY, SADLY, WAS NOT TO THEIR LIKING. SOMETIMES THE EXCITEMENT OF THE DAY MAKES FOR MISCALCULATIONS AND THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS CASE HERE FOR THEM. JERA COULD’NT MANAGE HER OPENER FOR THE TWO HAND, FULTON, CIVATONNE LIFT. HAVING MADE THE SAME WEIGHT IN WARM-UP, SHE WAS NOT ABLE TO PULL IT ON ANY OF HER ATTEMPTS. JERA WOWED THE SPECTATORS WITH HER ONE HAND C/J AND TRAP BAR DL, SO THE DAY WAS NOT A TOTAL LOSS! DOUG MUST HAVE HAD SOME OF THE SAME PORRIDGE AS JERA AS HE COULD’NT MANAGE HIS OPENER ON THE SAME LIFT!! HE WAS PERTURBED BUT CAME BACK ON THE REMAINING LIFTS TO POST GOOD NUMBERS AND SAVE SOME FACE.

Dave Glasgow helped lead his club to club victory with this 450 pound Trap Bar Deadlift (picture and caption by Al Myers).

ART MONTINI AND DENNY HAYBECKER MADE THE LOOONG TRIP FROM PENNSYLVANIA TO COMPETE. THESE TWO HAVE MADE THEIR WAY TO THE GREAT PLAINES MORE THAN ONCE AND WE ARE AWAYS GLAD TO SEE THESE TWO GENTLEMEN AT OUR GATHERINGS! ART DID HIS USUAL CALCULATED AND SCRIPTED LIFTING. OF HIS NINE ATTEMPTS, I THINK HE MISSED ONLY ONE! THAT IS KNOWING YOURS ABILITIES, FOR SURE! DENNY IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES IN THE USAWA. ALWAYS GREAT TO BE AROUND AND TALK TO, DENNY IS A GIFTED LIFTER. HE APPEARS COMFORTABLE WITH ANY LIFT THAT IS BEING CONTESTED. HIS KNOWLEDGE, BACKROUND AND EXPERIENCE ARE VERY APPARENT.

I AM FAIRLY CERTAIN THAT DEAN ROSS NEVER PRACTICES THE LIFTS PRIOR TO SHOWING UP FOR THE MEETS!! DEAN ALWAYS KEEPS THE CONVERSATION GOING AND NEVER MET A STRANGER. HIS LIFTS WERE SOLID AND UNDER CONTROL. HE, ALSO, DOES MORE THAN HIS FAIR SHARE OF LOADING AND SPOTTING, AS WELL. IT WAS GOOD TO SEE MIKE MURDOCK, AGAIN!! LOOKING VERY SVELTE AT HIS NEW WEIGHT OF 174, HE WAS AIMING AT SOME RECORDS IN HIS NEW FOUND WEIGHT CLASS. MIKE ALWAYS JUMPS IN AND HELPS WHEREVER HE CAN. HE EVEN SAID ‘GOOD-BYE’ TO EVERYONE THIS TIME, WHEN HE LEFT!!

AL MYERS AND CHAD ULLOM, EVER THE TRAVELING COMPANIONS, JUST RETURNED FROM A THREE WEEK LIFTING/THROWING EXTRAVAGANZA IN NORWAY AND EASTERN EUROPE. BOTH WERE PRETTY BEAT UP AND WEARY FORM THE COMPETITIONS AND THE TRAVEL. REGARDLESS, THEY ’COWBOYED UP’ AND HIT THE PLATFORM. AL WAS NURSING A TORN GROIN MUSCLE RESULTING IN VERY TIMID AND CONSERVATIVE LIFTS. THE FACT THAT HE COULD TRAP BAR LIFT AT ALL SURPRISED EVERYONE. AL IS A REAL STUDENT OF THE LIFTS AND LIFTING IN GENERAL, SO HIS LIFTING WAS NOT HAP HAZARD OR RECKLESS. CHAD CONTINUES TO AMAZE ME. HE HAS TO BE THE BEST OVERALL LIFTER AND ATHLETE I HAVE EVER RUN ACROSS. THERE JUST DOES’NT SEEM TO BE ANY LIFT HE DOES’NT DO WELL. HE CARRIED THE DAY AS HE WAS ALWAYS THE LAST LIFTER ON EACH LIFT. THIS BACKFIRED ON HIM, HOWEVER, AS, WHEN HE FINISHED FOR THE DAY, ALL THE FOOD WAS GONE!! I WONDER WHERE IT ALL WENT!?

LARRY TRAUB CAME TO BE A PART OF THE FESTIVITIES FROM INDIANA. HAVING A LONG HISTORY OF SUCCES IN THE POWERLIFTING GAME, HE SLIDES INTO MOST OF THE LIFTS VERY WELL. HOWEVER, HAVING SOME MOBILITY ISSUES AS OF LATE, HE TOOK PRETTY MUCH ‘TOKEN’ LIFTS IN THE TRAP BAR DL. TEAM LEDAIG WOULD NOT BE THE SAME WITHOUT HIS PRESENCE. THE HOST OF THE GAMES, YOURS TRULY, HAD A PRETTY GOOD DAY! HAVING HAD THE CHANCE TO DO THE LIFTS FOR THE PAST SIX WEEKS DID’NT HURT ANYTHING AND BEING ON HOME TURF IS ALWAYS A POSITIVE.

BIG THANKS TO LAVERNE MYERS FOR JUDGING. I WAS GLAD TO SEE HE COULD MAKE IT. WHEN IT WAS ALL SORTED OUT, THE LEDAIG HEAVY ATHLETICS TEAM CARRIED THE DAY FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP!

TEAM SCORES:

LEDAIG HEAVY ATHLETICS 2477.74
DINO GYM 2165.25
HABECKERS 763.54
AMBRIDGE BBC  550.04

ALL IN ALL, A GREAT TIME. I LOOK FORWARD TO HAVING THIS MEET FOR YEARS TO COME, AS WELL!! MANY, MANY THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO CAME OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE TO BE A PART OF THIS MEET! I AM MUCH OBLIGED!!

MEET RESULTS:

USAWA Club Championships
July 19th, 2014
Ledaig HA
Rainbow Bend, Kansas

Meet Director: Dave Glasgow

Official (1-official system used): LaVerne Myers

Scorekeeper: Al Myers

Lifts: Clean and Jerk – One Arm, Deadlift – Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip, Trap Bar Deadlift

1. Ledaig Heavy Athletics – 2477.74 points

LIFTER AGE BWT C&J DL-FB,CG TRAP
Alex Whetstone 11 79 22 R 72 105
Draven Kressly 13 131 70 R 182 250
Logan Kressly 16 171 95 R 257 350
Jera Kressly 29 237 80 R 0 350
Doug Kressly 34 285 110 R 0 450
Larry Traub 60 206 70 R 272 500
Dave Glasgow 61 253 105 L 304 450
Mike Murdock 74 172 22 R 142 135

2. Dino Gym – 2165.25 points

LIFTER AGE BWT C&J DL-FB,CG TRAP
Chad Ullom 42 253 130 R 327 550
Al Myers 47 236 125 R 327 420
Dean Ross 71 264 0 237 330

3. Habecker’s Gym – 763.54 points

LIFTER AGE BWT C&J DL-FB,CG TRAP
Denny Habecker 71 197 75 R 237 330

4. Ambridge BBC – 550.04 points

LIFTER AGE BWT C&J DL-FB,CG TRAP
Art Montini 86 176 27 R 152 210

EXTRA LIFTS FOR RECORDS

Jera Kressly: Clean and Jerk – Right Arm 85
Chad Ullom: DL-Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip 342
Dean Ross: DL-Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip 242
Denny Habecker: DL-Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip 242
Alex Whetstone: DL-Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip 82
Alex Whetstone: Trap Bar Deadlift 110
Mike Murdock: Rectangular Fix 55
Mike Murdock: Curl – Reverse Grip 55
Mike Murdock: Curl –  Cheat, Reverse Grip  65

NOTES: AGE is age in years. BWT is bodyweight in pounds. R and L designate right and left arms. All lifts recorded in pounds.

Club Championships

by Al Myers

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT
2013 USAWA CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS

Dave and Gunner Glasgow

The Club Championships has been rescheduled!   After the cancellation last March in Ambridge due to bad weather,  the Club Championships was looking “not to happen” this year.  However, I consider this meet as one of our “signature events” in the USAWA since it is a Championship Event, and these are the meets that really need to be contested every year.  The Club Championships began in 2010 with the Ambridge Barbell Club hosting it since then.  Dave Glasgow, the leader of the Ledaig Heavy Athletics, has agreed to promote it this summer so that this important competition will continue on an annual basis.

The Club Championships is much different than other competitions.  It is NOT an individual competition, but rather, a club competition.  The scores of three members of a club are “added together” to form a club score.  This way clubs are pitted against each other, with each member making their own contribution to their club.  Awards will be given out on a “club basis” – there will be no individual recognition at this event.

The rules for the Club Championships  are pretty straightforward:

1.  Each Club brings up to three lifters to compete. Clubs may enter with less than three members, but will be at a disadvantage when scores are added together.

2.  Club members MUST be registered with their club of participation (as documented on the membership roster).

3.  Adjusted Point scores are added together to form a club score.

4.  Club with the highest Club Score is awarded the Club Champion.

The Ledaig HA’s has been a big club player in the USAWA over the past few years.  Now since Dave has his new training facility built I expect even more involvement with promotions.  I consider Ledaig as one of the TOP CLUBS in the USAWA.  At the 2012 IAWA World Championships last fall in Salina, their club won the team title at the Championships (combined pt scores of all members participating).  That’s a big club win – winning Worlds!!!!  In 2011 Ledaig won the team title at the USAWA Nationals in Kirksville.   Also, last year at Nationals in Las Vegas they were awarded the Runner Up Club of the Year in the USAWA!  

I’m really excited about this year’s Club Championships.   I truly believe the success of the USAWA lies with club involvement.  Meets like this one foster that involvement.   Year’s ago it was important to lifters to be “part of a club” when going to competitions.  Club spirit was high – and lifters often competed in their club shirts showing their support to their club.  I want to bring that feeling back, and this meet is a great way to do that.  It should be an honor for a club member to get selected to represent their club at the Club Championships.  Let’s make this a great meet!

MEET DETAILS:

2013 USAWA Club Championships
Sunday, July 14th, 2013
Ledaig Heavy Athletics Training Facility
Rainbow Bend, KS

Sanction – USAWA

Entry Fee – None

Weighins:  9:00 AM

Start time:  10:00 AM

LIFTS: 

Bench Press – Fulton Bar

Zercher Lift

Peoples Deadlift

There will be a record breaker session after the competition if anyone is interested.  Award certificates will be awarded to the winning clubs. There is no entry form, but please contact Dave prior to the event if you are entering a team at dglasgow@cox.net . The directions to the meet are:

GPS Coordinates are: Decimal coordinates (latitude, longitude):
37.16499343231285,-97.13128566741943

Club Champs REMINDER

by Al Myers

The entrance of the historic Ambridge Barbell Club!

It will not be long now and the USAWA CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS will be taking place.  This meet is hosted by one of the oldest clubs in the USAWA (the Ambridge BBC) and directed by a couple of the oldest guys in the USAWA (Art Montini & John McKean).  The equipment in the club has been around at least a century (some forged by Bob Hoffman), and I believe the building was one of the first ones built in the Pittsburgh area (an old VFW hall).  

All of this adds up to a GREAT PLACE for an ALL ROUND WEIGHTLIFTING CHAMPIONSHIPS!  Ambridge Barbell Club has been the site of the Club Champs since it started, and is the perfect location for it.  Ambridge is in the “center” of the USAWA membership, and is within a long day drive for most everyone.  The Dino Gym will have a team present again, as well as the JWC, Ambridge BBC,  and Habeckers Gym.  There may be a couple of other clubs entered as well. 

All it takes to enter is three club members to form your club’s team.  This is a team competition, and NOT an individual competition.  The point scores of the three club members are added together to form a club score.  The club with the highest team total is declared the USAWA Club Champion of the year. 

DATE REMINDER – SATURDAY MARCH 2nd

Entry information is available under  USAWA Future Events in right column of the homepage.

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