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(Click here for results from Ozark Powerlifting meet) (Click here for results from Ozark Benchpress Meet results) |
Missouri Mens Open: 114 | 132 | 148 | 165 | 181 | 198 | 220 | 242 | 275 | SHW
Missouri Masters: Masters
Missouri Teen: Teen
Other links on this site:
Menu of past meet results
Missouri USAPL
USAPLNATIONALS.COM
Just some after thoughts on the meet, which was yet another fine production by the Cissell's, Steve, Mike & Sue. The meet site of St. John the Baptist High School seems to be a keeper, with the spacious warmup room and more than adequate gym. Rick Koettker was a saint to work with and was very accessible during setup & cleanup. Saint Koettker they should call him. I also felt we got lucky since the weather was a bit cooler this year, it made the temperature of the gym just right.
Aprox. 85 lifters came, with lifting wrapping up around 4pm or so. Not bad considering we started a tad late at 9:30am. This could be attributed to great spotting & loading by Pat Rankin & his group of Strongmen/ Christian bikers. These guys were awesome. There's no feeling like walking up to the platform with a crew like Pat, Wayne Eilerman & Jim Davis spotting you. Pat was so excited at one point I thought he was going to test the weight on the squat bar himself, just to insure it was correct.
As for records, there were too many to mention in this small paragraph, but the biggest one that fell was in the benchpress. Bill McDonough benched 523 lbs. for a new record in the 275 lb. class. If I recall correctly, this was a record set by Ron Serra, established quite a while ago. Going into the meet, it appeared the best lifter in the Ozark division was going to be between Kenny Garrett & Rodney Lawary. Kenny uncharacteristically stumbled and it opened up the door for Lawary. Lindsay Sample captured his 10th state title by winning the 220 lb. class. The nearest lifters to him have just 6 titles (they are: brother Leonard Sample, who retired due to health reasons; George Krockenberger; Vae Mafuli & Pat Rankin). Rumor has it that he may consider retiring though, possibly due to some bothersome hip trouble. He was part of the usual army of lifters that hail from southeastern Missouri. Aside from lifting, he spends time hunting & fishing. He's not only a record setting powerlifter, but a record setting fisherman as well. Check out this picture of the catfish Lindsay caught recently. The fish weighed a massive 85 lbs. and was 52" long! You'd almost have to be a lifter to pull this one in! It was caught in Illinois, just across the rive rfrom Cape Girardeau, Mo; and was an Illnois state record for the biggest catfish ever caught!
Other teams well represented were the WalleyWorld Bench team, headed up by Wally Strosnider; S & M Fitness of Harrisburg, IL, an all female team of mostly teenage girls coached by Mark & Sue Motsinger; The Ultimate Gym, Health Quarters in Hazelwood; The Granite City YMCA; The Belleville Weightlifting Club; The Firm; Western Illinois University & The Gym. I'm sure I've missed some, and apologize in advance, but it's hard to recap everything when you actually lifted in the meet. I was pleased to see the turnout of lady lifters. Overall we had 16; hopefully this trend will continue as it makes things more competitive for the girls that enter.
We also had lifters from several different areas come to lift. They include Chicago, Indiana, Mississippi, South Dakota, Oklahoma, New York, and several parts of Missouri & Illinois. The meet also had it's share of national refs on hand. Thanks to Judy & Roger Gedney for making to trip from Macomb. Thanks also to Freddie Higgins for also coming down from Illinois. Jim Rouse, who's claimed as one of ours even though he's from up in Illinois, was also on hand running a tight platform. Sam & Judy Greco also put in a day at the meet judging and helping out where needed. Big Jeff Lewis, the Missouri USAPL's only 600 lb .bencher was also on hand. King Louie was helping Joe Scalziti (formerly of St. Louis) who made the trip from Chicago. The meet's most enthusiastic parent award award would have to go to the mother of Sophia Hobson, of Harrisburg, IL. She was so happy for her daughter that she was bouncing up and down as Sophia accepted her award. In my eyes, that's the kind of stuff that makes this fun.
I heard a few people mention they might decide to back away for a while or that this may be their last meet. Good luck trying to quit, but once you're in this sport it's really hard to quit. Just ask 4 time sate champ Chad Holmes. Chad was looking as big as ever, has long hair and has been training for Pro Wrestling; but indicated he might return for the Cape meet. Old powerlifters never quit, they just take a layoff, get healthy and get hungry again. Irv Obermark indicated he was qualifying for the National Masters held later this year, and that he might call it quits for a bit. He also said a couple of things that hit home with this author. The first being, that he would consider getting a little bit involved with the judging end of powerlifting. This is a good thing and certainly what we need. The other was that he trains a young lifter at his gym who may enter a meet some time. Folks, if our sport is going to continue to grow in our area, we all need to do more of this. Latch onto a young guy or two, and give them some encouragement. Sam Greco is a good example. He trains a handful of wrestlers & football players. Or if you're really ambitious, as is the case of Mark and Sue Motsinger, try training 30 or 40 teenagers for this. The point is, most of us have something to offer the younger crowd. Certainly powerlifting isn't the most convenient or common sports for kids, but there are worse activities for them to get into. Just open a newspaper or watch the 5 o'clock news and you'll see. And besides these younger lifters are a lot of fun. Where else can you sound off like Burgess Meredith , who played Mickey, in the Rocky flicks, and not get taken away in a coat with extra long sleeves..."You need a manger kid!!!! You can't buy what I got to give ya'! I've waited 50 years to make a champion, and you're it kid!" Ok, so I've had too much coffee this morning, but you get the idea.
Along these same lines, James Bell has been doing this for years. Jim was this year's Leroy Marsh award winner, who I first met in 1986 at the Ozark meet in Bridgeton. Even though I didn't have the greatest total, he said "Hey, you should go to this meet next month…." Since then, you folks have become this author's best and dearest friends that I look forward to seeing a few times a year. Jim not only works with the lifting kids at St. John the Baptist, but he also has coached girls softball for years. All of this, and carefully maintaining a tricky balancing act at home with the family.
Getting back to Pat Rankin, this guy seems to have had moment of clarity, and a major spiritual awakening. He has formed a group called Athletes Against Steroids after seeing many training partners fall by the wayside due to the dark side of the force. Pat's target audience is the guys that have not yet decided to use strength enhancing drugs; and his goal is to show them that they too can get strong without using, as long as they are patient. Well that about wraps it up for another state meet. As of this writing the date for the Central USA hasn't been set, but I'm sure it will be around November or December. And don't forget about the Benchpress Nationals in Sept., this should be a fun one to watch. Thanks again to the Cissell family for giving us wonderful outings each year to lift in. If it were averaged out, a meet director probably makes about .25 cents per hour on running meets. Anyone who doesn't think so, should try it, or at least take a step closer and inspect a little deeper. It takes months to plan a meet, and even when it's over at 5pm that day, we all go home, but the meet director still has more work to do. Mike, Sue & Steve do an outstanding job carrying the load for all of us. Thanks again to them; and thanks also to the giant meet production crew that know's who they all are.
See you next time!
Rick Fowler
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| Womens Teen results | |||||||||||||||
| Teen division, 75kg/165 lb. (14-15) | |||||||||||||||
| Lifter | SQ1 | SQ2 | SQ3 | BP1 | BP2 | BP3 | DL1 | DL2 | DL3 | Total | Place | ||||
| L. Pledger | -95 | 95 | 107.5 | 37.5 | 45 | -47.5 | 95 | 117.5 | -127.5 | 270 | |||||
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| Mens Open 52kg/114lb results | |||||||||||||||
| Lifter | SQ1 | SQ2 | SQ3 | BP1 | BP2 | BP3 | DL1 | DL2 | DL3 | Total | Place | ||||
| D. Cohn | -145 | 145 | -162.5 | -97.5 | -105 | -105 | 000.0 | 000.0 | 000.0 | 000.0 | |||||
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| Mens Open 82.5kg/181lb results | |||||||||||||||
| Lifter | SQ1 | SQ2 | SQ3 | BP1 | BP2 | BP3 | DL1 | DL2 | DL3 | Total | Place | ||||
| B. Doster | 215 | 222.5 | 232.5 | 127.5 | 142.5 | -147.5 | -215 | 215 | 220 | 595 | |||||
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| Mens Open 125k+g/275+lb results | |||||||||||||||
| Lifter | SQ1 | SQ2 | SQ3 | BP1 | BP2 | BP3 | DL1 | DL2 | DL3 | Total | Place | ||||
| J. Pledger | 300 | 310 | -320 | 165 | 182.5 | 195 | 250 | 275 | -282.5 | 780 | |||||
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Best Lifters
Open Women: Dawn Hicks
Open Men: Kenny Garrett
Masters Men: Lindsay Sample
Teen Women: Lindsay Pledger
1st Place Team: Universal Health & Fitness