Power Palooza
An all day Ironfest for lifting fanatics.
July 29th - River's Edge, Granite City, ILE-mail Rick | Home
Power Palooza...A Success!
Many thanks go out to a handful of people that made this possible. For starters, I'd like to personally thank Harold and Don Gaines for coming over and giving me a big hand. These two guys add quite a bit to our meets and I am very thankful to have them. Our spotters kept the lifters safe and did an outstanding job. They were Bill, Jay, Jake, Justin, Andy and even Ben who lent a hand loading some plates after his deadlifts were over. Not only has my lifting family been a lot of help, but my actual family played a big part as well. Thanks to my wife Jennifer, her parents for their help, and Alan and Lisa who got initiated for the first time while they were visiting from Jackson, MS. I only hope that after this weekend of working at the meet, they will come back and visit us again. All joking aside your help was very much appreciated. Last but not least, thanks to Jim Bell who as always is one of the last guys to leave when the cleanup is over.
The Results:
MS Excel | HTML FormatThe Powerlifters
What a fun day of lifting. We see a few old names we haven't seen in a while and a few new names. In the Raw Powerlifting, Brad Chaney went 7 for 9, and unloaded a nice 385 lb. shirtless bench. Very impressive Brad! 46 year old Steve Perry, who trains with Brad lifted in his first meet. Perry also went 7 for 9 and capped of the day with a deadlift of 242 lbs. Glenn Pitts at was darn strong. Glenn squatted 473, had a little bit of a hitch with the pause in the benchpress and then deadlifted a quarter ton to total 1,339 lbs. It's hard to believe he's a Master lifter with his lean, muscular physique.
In her first competition, Casandra Sandoval of the River's Edge YMCA made 7 out of 8 lifts and had the time of her life in doing so. She has been infected by the iron bug and was already in the gym on Monday benching for the next meet. Passion and desire are things that just can't be coached. I wish everyone had it like her. Great job Casandra...now the real work begins. Coming out of retirement after having a hip replaced, Randy Presswood's sole goal was to just lift in a meet with his son Kody, who also lifted. Randy is pretty well known around these parts and as been exposed to the iron game for a very long time. At just a few hairs over 181, he narrowly missed squatting 500 lbs., then took token lifts in the other two disciplines in order to register a total.
Ken Paxton of Scott Air Force Base entered the 220 lb. masters division. Ken has made great strides lately and is primed for some very respectable numbers. Ken finished the day going 451/374/479, for a 1,306 lb. total. Maureen Post is another Master lifter who just keeps on lifting without any regard to what the calendar might say. At nearly 50 years old and just 146 lbs. she continues to impress. Post squatted 231 lbs., nearly locked out 225 lbs. on the benchpress and pulled an awesome 270 lbs. She will be going to the 2007 Womens Nationals in Baton Rouge, LA.
Stepping onto the platform for the first time, 16 year old Kody Presswood looked fantastic. A lean, muscular kid with a thin frame, he is destined for good things if he continues. Kody dunked 330 lbs. with perfect form, placing it just below for an efficient and legal squat. In the benchpress he managed just an opener, but with longer arms, he might be at a disadvantage for a while. In the deadlift Kody pulled three successful lifts, ending with a huge 363 lbs. His total of 863 lbs., if done in a USAPL meet, would have qualified him for the Teenage Nationals next June. This meet will be in Kalamazoo, MI and will be the meet used to pick the 18 & Under World Team that will travel to La Garde, France in September. When he's not lifting, Kody is wrestling and even qualified for the IHSA State Championships last season. Outstanding showing by a classy young guy!
The Benchers and Deadlifters
We had just two benchers, but they were quality benchers. Curt McDonald of nearby Belleville, IL had just come of placing 5th in the ultra competitive High School Nationals. Today he was only good for one bench and just his 314 lb. opener. Lifting raw in just a T-shirt, Jeff "The King" Lewis stepped into an exclusive group with some pretty good company. Jeff nailed a 606 lb. lift on his 2nd attempt and is now part of the 600 lb. Raw Benchpress club. King Louie also gave a pretty decent interview telling us about his recent WPO Championship.
Chelle Simmons came all the way across the state from In dependance, MO to do some big deadlifting. Chelle ended with a new personal best of 220 lbs.. and had more in her. Ben Cuvar keeps on making progress. Ben trained for a short time and squeezed out his all time best, of 374 lbs. 400 lbs. can't be far for this kid. At 181 we had the legal mind and muscle of Geoff Meyerkord. Geoff is just built to deadlift and he also set a new pr with 518 lbs. Willie Lemire had endured a slight back injury earlier in the year that set him back just a bit. He came to the meet with the thought of just making some lifts and getting back where he was at. After two successful lifts he now has the monkey off of his back, (specifically his erectors), since he pulled 562 lbs.
Terry Stanley, the hardest working guy I know, had an off day with making just his opener. After the meet he worked midnights and days, pulling a double for 16 hours straight. Now THAT's old time tough. Sam Philpot of the YMCA in Kansas City is the Fitness Director at his YMCA and had a good chance to practice what he preaches. Sam was good on all three accounts and ended with the biggest lift of the entire day, a 650 deadlift. Sam not only won the 242 lb. Open and Masters awards, he also walked out with the Best Deadlifter award. Great job Sam!
Dr. Pat Anderson has made it a habit of coming to our meets and we're always glad to see him. Pat was close to a new pr, but had to settle for a 644 lb. deadlift and a chocolate chip cheesecake from the Fowler Kitchen. in the SHW category, "The Scientist" Brad Manion had a banner day. All of his experiments ended successfully and he now has a 600 lb. deadlift to his credit.During the powerlifting competition Brad treated us to some of his grip feats of strength with tearing decks of cards and bending steel for the audience. Rounding out the competition, James "Cool Papa" Bell went 3 for 3 and hauled up 451, which isn't that far off his best deadlift that was done way back. Great job Jim!
The Ironmind Suitcase Challenge
For the Ironmind.com Suitcase Challenge we brought out the 200's for the Teenagers and the 250's for the men. Ironmind was generous enough to supply gift certificates for the top two places, so we had everyone go, then lumped the kids in with the adults. The results were pretty fascinating. Jeff Lewis had the top time of 52.59, done with the 250's. 2nd place went to 18 year old Curt McDonald, who held the 200's for a surprising 51.03. All in all, 11 people entered the Ironmind.com Suitcase Challenge.
Ironmind.com 250lb. Suitcase Challenge
1. 52.59 Jeff Lewis
2. 44.50 Pat Anderson
3. 43.93 Andy Odenwald
4. 43.82 Brad Manion
5. 42.63 Willie Lemire
6. 38.68 Rick Fowler
7. 36.82 Charlie Hurd
8. 30.65 Jim Bell
Ironmind.com 200lb. Suitcase Challenge
1. 51.03 Curt McDonald
2. 26.00 Danny Manasco
3. 21.81 Ben Cuvar
The Ironmind Log Press for Reps
The participation for the Log Press for Reps wasn't nearly as high as the Suitcase Challenge, but it was just as exciting. We had three guys step up and give the 180 lb. log a try for the very first time. The top two places received Ironmind.com gift certificates.
Ironmind.com 180 lb. Log Press for Reps
1. 16 Reps Jeff Lewis
2. 15 Reps Charlie Hurd
3. 7 Reps Willie Lemire
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