Tag Archives: National Championships

National’s History

By Al Myers

I just updated our History Archives on the “Past USAWA Nationals”.  The one thing about history is that it is ever changing, with new things that become history once they are finished. This is an ongoing project for me, and sometimes I find that I’ve been slow to add the updates as time seems to fly by at a faster pace the older I get!

If you get some extra time and are interested in the history of the USAWA, take a look at these pages in the “History” section. (It is located on the header line of the USAWA website).  I always reread the past history as I add updates.  Today I want to share some highlights as it applies to the history of our USAWA National Championships.

  • This year (2018) marks the 31st year of the USAWA National Championships, with NO YEARS being missed since the first Nationals in 1988.
  • This year (2018) marks the first and ONLY time Nationals has been held in Florida.  8 states have been hosts for Nationals with Pennsylvania in the number one spot (12), followed by Ohio (6), Massachusetts (4), Missouri (4), Kansas (2), Illinois (1), and Nevada (1).
  • 15 meet directors (or combinations of meet directors) have promoted the Nationals. Denny Habecker has promoted the most (5), followed by Al Myers (4), and 4 promoters with (3): Frank Ciavattone, John Vernacchio, Art Montini/John McKean, and Bill Clark/Joe Garcia.
  • The top 5 lifts that have been contested at Nationals are: Zercher Lift (17), One Arm Deadlift (16), Pullover and Push (13), One Arm Snatch (12), and the Clean and Press heels together (12).  Three of these top 5 National lifts were contested at this years Nationals!
  • 55 Official lifts of the USAWA have been contested at past National Championships. 22 lifts have only been contested once in Nationals.
  • This year was a one day meet, but only 10 times in our history has Nationals been a one day meet.  The other 21 times it was a two day meet.  However, all 10 of these one day meets have occurrd in the past 13 years.

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.

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