2nd Annual WABDL Heart of America Bench Press and Deadlift
Championships
April 2, 2005 – Gateway Convention Center
The 2nd Annual WABDL Heart of America Bench Press and Deadlift
Championships was a huge success. There were more than 70 lifters
competing, nearly twice as many as in 2004. Lifters came from
eight states: Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Arkansas, Colorado, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. In
addition, international lifters living in the U.S. participated from
South Korea, Russia, Bulgaria, Indonesia, and Finland. The meet
was run by WABDL Illinois State Co-Chairpersons Erica Haislar and John
Hudson (who is also President of Illini Powerlifting), and featured
some key improvements over the 2004 meet, starting with
sponsorship. Several sponsors generously donated merchandise and
gift certificates for best lifters, including At Large Nutrition,
All-Pro Protein, Chicagopowerlifting.com, Titan, and House of
Pain. At Large Nutrition of Virginia donated a grab bag of
supplements, while All-Pro Protein provided four 5-lb. bags of their
excellent protein, as well as sample packages for lifters to try.
Eric Stone of Chicagopowerlifting.com donated wrist wraps, as did
Titan. And House of Pain donated gift certificates and an
assortment of House of Pain paraphernalia. Beautiful sculpted
trophies were made for this event by Carl Seeker, and Best Lifters
received battle axes. Expert announcing and commentary was
provided by WABDL President Gus Rethwisch. Head judging duties
were performed by John Hudson.
Lifting took place on a single platform (WABDL does not run
multiple-platform meets) on an elevated stage, offering good viewing
for the many spectators on hand. The stage itself was rock-solid
and perfectly level; it didn’t budge under even the heaviest
deadlifts. The lifting platform was double-plywood with grip tape
for both benchers and deadlifters. The bench was a Lamarque bench
with an improved spotter platform. The bench was bolted to the
plywood of the platform to ensure maximum stability. Bars were an
Ivanko for bench and a Frantz Excalibur Deadlift bar. The kilo
set was a brand new Ivanko set, just out of the box. All-in-all,
the meet directors aimed to provide maximum value to the lifters, as
well as maximum safety. Meet directors simply must aim for
nothing less. After all, meets are all about the lifter, not the
meet director(s). Many of the ideas for improvements to this meet
were borrowed from the meets of Eric Stone, one of the best meet
directors in the Midwest. Erica and John would like to thank Eric
for setting the bar high for other meet directors.
Now to the highlights of the meet.
There were some exceptional benchers at this meet, including Andrew Kim
of Illini Powerlifting. Andrew nailed a flawless 451.7 on third
attempt for a WABDL Illinois State Record at Junior and Open, then
drove up an incredible 468.2 on a fourth attempt. Andrew is now
within striking distance of the WABDL Junior World Record at 181.
Some other Illini Powerlifting members benching big were Brandon Rogers
at Junior 275 with 584 for a State Record, 336 lb. Lee Mateer at SHW
who benched 552.1 for a Junior World Record, and Janne Heittokangas at
Open 275 who benched 584 for a State Record. Roger Ryan of
Decatur (and also of Illini Powerlifting) continues to push his
Law/Fire World Record at 259 higher, this time with a 540.
Another Law/Fire lifter of note was Lee Roy Banks at 198 in the
Law/Fire Master 40-47 division. Lee Roy lifted raw for this meet,
but still managed a very impressive 429.7. Nick Raburn, lifting
in the Teen 13-15 division at 123, benched 214.7 for a World
Record. Ken Millrany, WABDL Tennessee State Chairman, was world
class on this day with a 576.3 for a World Record in the Master 40-46
division of the 220 weight class. Ken also helped with
judging. Cheryl Cobb, also from Tennessee, benched a strong 249.1
in the Master 40-46 division at 198 for a Tennessee State Record and
Best Lifter for Women. Jim Bourisaw from Missouri, lifting in the
Master 61-67 division at 220, showed all the young guys how it’s done
with a Missouri State Record bench of 402.2. And Jim didn’t start
benching until his late 50s! Jim was one of eight Best Lifters
for the day. Most of the above benches, by the way, were
performed in single-ply shirts. Titan F-6 shirts were very
prominent among the big benchers.
In the deadlift, Eddie Morgan of Arkansas was another Master lifter who
showed the young guys where it’s at. Eddie pulled a big 655.7 in
the Master 47-53 division at 259, weighing only 247.8. Alex Kang
of Illini Powerlifting pulled a Maryland State Record 407.7 at
132. Mike Woody from Indiana lifted in Open 220, pulling the
biggest deadlift of the meet with 672.2. Jeff Douglas, another
Illini Powerlifting member, pulled triple bodyweight with 661.2 at
Submaster 220. Brett Faught, an Illini Powerlifting member from
Mattoon High School, set a new Illinois State Teen 16-19 record at 148
with 402.2. And another teen member of Illini
Powerlifting, Laramie McMasters, pulled 501.5 for a State Record at
Teen 16-19 165, weighing only 155. Laramie was another of the
eight Best Lifters.
Seven teams were entered in this meet, and team trophies were provided
for 1st through 5th place. Teams placed as follows:
1st – Illini Powerlifting: Old School Squad
2nd – Illini Powerlifting: Squad Ichiban-Crush
3rd – Illini Powerlifting: Squad West
4th – Illini Powerlifting: Squad Tuonela
5th – Illini Powerlifting: ANOVA Squad
6th – Team Illinois
7th – Team Missouri
Team Illinois defeated Team Missouri for the 1st Annual WABDL Illinois
– Missouri Bragging Rights Trophy. Word has is that Missouri
Chairman John Boettger is already putting together a great roster of
Missouri lifters for next year in hopes of taking the Bragging Rights
Trophy to the Show-Me State.
For complete meet results, go to http://www.wabdl.org/latest_meet_results.htm
See you in Collinsville in April, 2006!
Thanks to John Hudson for providing
this report.