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Some impressive lifts! |
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In looking back, there are a few things that we can do to prevent this from happening again. An earlier start for sure would help us. We had a few weeks over the Christmas break that prevented meet director Darrell Branson from wrapping up the venue. Along with that, I personally have so much going on in my life that I'm overwhelmed with projects and am being spread way too thin. Honestly, it's to the point that I'm almost ready to step away just to keep what little sanity that I have left. But that's another discussion for another time. The third thing we can do better is to get the entries in earlier. No matter if it means everyone trying to make the effort to let us know who will be entering and mail it in way ahead of time, or just moving the deadline back to 30 days prior to the meet. Something has to be done to insure the meet director isn't sweating bullets less than 2 weeks prior to the meet, and also to prevent running a meet in a facility too small for the number of entries. I think Eagle gym would be a perfect place for a smaller meet, but 49 is a little too many. So, my apologies to all for the less than optimum lifting conditions.
That being said, I am very impressed with the lifters ability to cope and get through, and also put up some very impressive attempts. The three records that most come to mind are the Mens Open Superheavyweight total record set by Jeff Lewis; the Mens Open 242 lb. squat record broken by Chad Holmes; and the American benchpress record set by Ed Finnell. Lewis' new mark removed the SHW record set by Vae Mafuli that was set in 1993 in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Vae was a phenomenal Superheavyweight lifter that held the record at 2,039 lbs for 10 years. As good as he was, I didn't ever think his record would fall, at least not if Jeff Lewis stayed in retirement. With Jeff making all 9 lifts he looked very good and although I wouldn't swear to it, he might have a tad more left to push the record up just a little more. Holmes new record erased the mark set by Salomon Mageo set over 15 years ago. Mageo was a thickly built Polynesian lifter that had some entertaining characteristics when he lifted. Sal would actually be laughing hysterically all through his lift. Had I not seen it, I would've never believed he could do such numbers while laughing. So his record has been broken by Chad Holmes, who already owns a whole slew of records and now owns the 242 lb. squat record of 738 lbs. Ed Finnell of Rolla, Mo has made some great progress over the years. It wasn't that long ago Ed was trying to go over the 450 mark, and now he has eclipsed the SHW American benchpress record in the 50-54 class. Way to go Ed!
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Jeff Lewis, The Missouri USAPL's Best Lifter,
totaled 2,120 lbs. for a new state record! |
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