| The Missouri USAPL Presents... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| The 2000 Central USA PL Results Page | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nov. 4th, Cape Girardeau, Mo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This year marked the 11th year for the Central USA Powerlifting meet held in Cape Girardeau, Mo. The turnout was medium sized, with class sizes varying from some that did not have any lifters to a few that were loaded. As always there were plenty of lifters from that area, which over the years has made the meet what it is. Steve & Dr. Mike Cissell put on quite a meet each time, and this one was no different. And now, on to the competition!
One nice surprise was the number of female lifters in the meet. We had the usual Pledger sisters from Cape Girardeau, but in addition there were several other ladies that were new. Sue & Mark Motsinger of Harrisburg, IL brought a full team of 10 teenage girls for a friendly competition against the team entered by Universal Fitness. With a full team entered, S & M Fitness won the meet hands down against the four from Universal. In there first meet, identical twins Jennifer & Jessica Ray lifted well winning the 105 & 114 lb. classes respectively. Training partners of this author, these girls are serious about their lifting and even qualified for the Nationals with just their squats and deadlifts. Amanda Jackson of Team S & M won the 114 lb. 16-17 class missing only one attempt in each of the lifts. In what I believe was her first meet, Lisa Schoonmaker won the 114 lb. Open & Masters 40-44 class only missing 2 lifts the entire day. At 123 lbs. Karen Gordon narrowly missed making the 114 lb. class but still lifted beautifully. She missed two benches on the day, but cruised through the squats and deads perfect. Even weighing in as a very light 123 lber, she still managed to qualify for the Womens Nationals in January with a fine 666 lb. total. In the 132 lb. class, Heather Burroughs won unopposed with a 429 lb. total. Laura Beth Schaefer won the 148 lb., 18-19 class with a 287.5 kg total, which more than qualifies her for the Nationals. At 165 lbs. Dawn Hicks of West Plains, Mo. took top honors missing just one lift on the entire day. Local girl Lindsay Pledger looked especially good totaling 622 lbs in the 14-15 class. In the 181's, Ashley Thomas won the Teen, 16-17 missing one in both the benchpress and deadlift. Moving up to the 198's, Melissa Hunt of S & M avoided the bombout in the squat, then cruised to a 540 lb. total on the day. Sabrina Pledger has been quite a record setting lifter during her career. In the 198+ category she totaled a massive 925 lbs. and could've even padded it more by making her thirds in the squat and deadlift. She's also headed to the Womens Nationals in Ft. Wayne, In next January. In the lower weights a couple lifters failed to make weight and caused a minor shakeup in the classes. John Hunn was initially a 123 lber. But came in over the limit. Had it not been for the fact that teenager Ross Accardi missed the 132 lb. limit, Hunn and Accardi would've been a close matchup. As it stood, Hunn totaled 342.5 kg's, going perfect in the deadlift to take the 132 lb. class. In the 148's, Ross "Vanilla Ice" Accardi just missed making the 132's by less than 4oz. After dieting for days to get where he needed to be, the lad indulged in a small serving of vanilla ice cream that Friday and failed to make 132 lbs. by the margin of an ice cream. Even with depleting himself for nothing, the 18 year old Accardi lifted well enough to capture the best teenage lifter award along with 2nd place in the 148 lb. class. Our champion in the 148's was Josh Dixon from Henderson, KY. Josh is quite a lifter who has national level experience and puts up some really nice numbers at a light bodyweight. He went 451-253-479 , totaling 1,183 on the day. Ivan Zwick took two shots at an American Record benchpress in the Masters 60-64 but it just wasn't there. In the 165's, Kelly Dickson on Belleville, IL missed just two lifts the entire day winning the Open class with a 1,122 lb. total. Tom Scagliarini, also of Belleville, IL took the 181 title with a fine 1,366 lb. total. Tom has great technique and is a lock to win more titles at this weight. Runner up James Bell, the 2000 Lee Marsh award winner had some rough goings in making the 181 lb. class. Jim narrowly missed a new masters state record squat in the 45-49 class. Newcomer Nathan Gentges lifted well in his first meet pulling through to make his final deadlift and stay in the meet. In the 198's, there were a whole slew of competitors entered. Kurt Richardson came out for the 198's and just missed placing third. Just 12.5 kg's behind perennial contender Roger Petzoldt, Kurt could've changed things a bit by making one more lift in any of the three events. If powerlifters accumulated points over the years like NASCAR drivers, Roger Petzoldt would be a hard one to beat. Very few have been around as long as good ole' "Smilin' Roger". He finished the day with a 632.5 kg total. The top two spots in this one were fought over by a couple of dudes from the land of the Ilini. Both Duane Madere and Roger Williams are from Illinois and both had outstanding days. Williams of Belleville, IL went 7 for 9, finishing 2nd , 25 kg's behind Madere of Elgin. IL. Madere was a perfect 9 for 9 on the day and totaled 1,537 lbs. to win the title. He also pulled out an upset in the benchpress by winning the best lifter award over the Missouri benchpress machine, Dennis Riney. The 220's were especially interesting, considering that Rodney Lawary had won the meet 3 times prior to this contest. Fresh off of his banner day at the Ozark meet where he was the meet's best lifter, I expected to see some big numbers from Lawary. As it unfolded, it just wasn't Rodney's day. Even with that though, he still managed to squat 650 lbs. bench a little over 400 lbs. and pull a nice 661 lb. attempt. These lifts not only gave him the 220 lb. title, but also another best lifter award to his credit. Young guy Matt Bauman continues to make great progress as he moved up from 198 to 220 for this meet. Mitch Mitchell cruised into third place just 15 kg's behind Bauman. The 242 lb. class was originally void of any lifters, but when Terry Stanley & Kevin Nance failed to make weight, both were forced to move up. Nance of Collinsville, IL is still learning the ropes a bit and was the runner up with a 487.5 kg total. Stanley, who is a steelworker in Granite City, IL missed just 2 out of 9 lifts, with personal records in all except the squat. The title was Stanley's 2nd Central USA championship. The 275's were stormed by T.J. Rubey "Tuesday". As the only lifter in the class, I'm not sure it would've mattered if there were other lifters in it. This guy is something. Missing just a 440 lb. benchpress, Rubey totaled 1,774 to win the title. My friend, this total qualifies you for any Nationals you would want to enter. GET SOME NATIONAL EXPERIENCE UNDER YOUR BELT! The Supers were just that: SUPER. Not just our largest class of people by weight, but also one of our largest by the number of lifters, we had a whopping 6 lifters in the Open class! It was a tough Open crowd for Brian Mitchell, who finished in the rear of the pack. Even with that, he continues to make great progress. Mitchell has put almost 300 lbs. on his total in just a few short years and just keeps on getting better. 5th place went to Robert Smith, the teacher and occasional busrider (inside joke folks), from Mississippi. He totaled exactly what he wanted to, after telling me the night before that he was shooting for a 700 kg. meet. Eddie Sorto finished a hair out of 3rd place, making some nice squats and benches on the day. He was just 11 lbs. out of 3rd. 3rd place went to another one of our regulars that came up from the south. Robert Ramsey, the police officer from Hunstville, AL came in third, and was one big squat away from being the runner up in the class. Runner up in the SHW class ended up being a familiar face to many. Jerry Pledger finished with the biggest squat of the meet, a 705 lb. lift, and totaled a respectable 1,708 lb. total. Along the way he also set some new Missouri masters records for the 40-44 age group. Our champion came out of being semi-retired after a brief college football career in Springfield, Mo. Donovan Garris has steadily moved up in the ranks over the years, and is now a Superheavyweight lifter. He came into the meet with hopes of making some squats and deads in the mid 600 lb. range, and possibly setting the SHW benchpress record for three lift meets. What a return he had! Donovan squatted 672 lbs., deadlifted 650 lbs. and benched a massive 523 lb. lift for a new Missouri state record. He actually had more on the bench when he just missed locking out 551 lbs. on his third attempt. All in all, he totaled an awesome 1,846 lb. total, which also qualifies him for any National meet he would choose to enter. New to the game, Jim Henson showed great passion and potential for more, making all 9 lifts and winning the Novice class. Teenager Justin Newsome, a mountainous kid of only 14 moved some big numbers for only training 14 weeks. After stumbling onto him in the gym, I thought, "This kid has to be at least 17". But no, he's just barely old enough to compete. He's big, he's strong and he especially enjoyed talking to the other SHW lifters. Thanks for making him feel welcome. I was pleased to see the turnout of female and also young lifters at this year's meet. To make things grow we have to have more young lifters. It was a handful of years ago that the Above All team emerged. Comprised of Dennis Riney, Donovan Garris, Brady Mattingly, Mike Werges and several others, this team of guys paid their dues, climbed up through the ranks, and now many of them own state records. Who will be the next Above All team? In 2002 we have the High School Nationals in St. Louis, Mo. Different from the Teenage & Jr.'s, this meet has no qualifying totals. The only requirement is that kids lift in at least one sanctioned USAPL meet. With a division for Freshman & Sophomores and one for Juniors and Seniors, it is a great meet for kids to get into. I've also tried to mention here, who has qualified for National meets. Folks if you've qualified, go to your Nationals and compete! Some would reply, "I wouldn't finish that well" or "They're so much stronger at the Nationals". Well guess what? That's how it works, and in order to get better, competition helps get us stronger. Not only that, but you can learn so much more by going to a National meet and sharing ideas & experiences with others. And besides, regardless of where a person would finish, it's all about competing, and taking your best shot. Nobody will look down on you for having the guts to try, only to come in last. Some of us are competitors and some aren't. You decide which group you're in. I couldn't wrap up the article without saying a few thanks you's here. These meets aren't possible without our staff, who do so much to make the thing work. For this meet they were Marlene, Karma, George, Denise, Jim, & Sam. An early congratulations goes to Maureen Post, who I believe passed her state referee's test! And, as always, special thanks to the Cissell family, who put these events on year in, year out. For anyone who might question how things are ran, feel free to get involved. We can always use more referees and other help. Next stop for the Missouri USAPL: The state meet on April 21st at St. John the Baptist High School in St. Louis, Mo. Entries and info can be found on our website at www.USAPLNATIONALS.com ! Rick Fowler |
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