at the Leaning Tower YMCA in Niles, IL
January 8, 2005
Official Results
In HTML
In an Excel Document
Pictures
The new year of 2005 started out with a bang for APF Illinois with the APF/AAPF Windy City IRONMAN in Niles, IL. We were at the historic Leaning Tower YMCA, which has been the home for powerlifters and powerlifting meets since the beginnings of the sport. We were happy to work with the staff of the YMCA, including fellow powerlifter Erwin Chang, and fitness director of the Y Cheryl Targos. The meet was equipped with some of the best equipment available from Frantz Gym in Aurora, thanks to our APF/WPC Founder Ernie Frantz. We had a Forza competition bench press, a Frantz power bar, a Frantz deadlift bar and Ivanko kilo competition plates.
We had some great lifting at the meet on the bench and deadlift. From the Carpenter Powerlifting team, Rob Luyando benched a huge 689 pounds, and just narrowed missed 705, all at a 242 pound body weight! Rob may have already benched over 700 by the time you read this! From the Frantz Power Team, masters lifter Sidney Thoms benched a huge 308 pounds. Sidney is only the third woman over 50 to bench over 300 pounds, and she keeps inching up above 300 with every meet. Rob earned the Best Male APF and AAPF Bencher, and Sidney earned the Best Female Bencher for their performances.
We also saw some great lifting from the Illini Powerlifting Team, including from their coach John Hudson. John benched over 500, pulled over 700, totaling 1240 pounds in the ironman division. John received the Best Male APF Deadlift award, as well as the overall Best IRONMAN award for the meet. John and his team were not only lifting for PRs on this day, though. Every pound they lifted earned them money that they will use to help the tsunami victims in Asia. Team Illini raised over $800 for this noble cause, and are continuing to raise money throughout 2005.
Many of the other lifters had great meets also. Even on a self-described "off-day" for Jeremy Thomas, he earned the best AAPF Deadlift award on the day with his 618 pound pull at 198. The biggest pull of the day came from Ernie Lilliebridge, Sr. who pulled up a strong 716 pounds. Ernie was accompanied by his sons Ernie, Jr. and Eric, who had great days as well. Ernie, Jr. followed in his dad's footsteps on this day, pulling a big 534 at 181 as a teenager. It was a great meet for the lifters all around, with many Illinois State and American bench records broken, as well as many PRs!
I once again had an abundance of help at this meet, making the meet run very smoothly. APF IL State Chairman and multi-time World Champion Powerlifter Maris Sternberg was on hand to MC the meet as well as handle the many records set on this day. At the scorer's table, my training partners Sharra Powell and Tywnia Brewton expertly took attempts and ran the table with Maris. Taking attempts from the lifters was my training partner and girlfriend Jackie Ebben. Jackie also handled the computerized scoring at this meet. She had the scoring of the meet done so quickly, the awards were given almost immediately after the lifting ended.
Handling the fair and consistent judging of this meet were experienced, expert WPC Officials Bob Kelly and Mike Sweeney. They were joined by the newest APF meet director in Wisconsin, Gary Reichert. APF Iowa State Chairman and World Champion Bench Presser Bill Carpenter was also on hand as judge. Finally, saving many lifters on this day were experienced loaders/spotters of Mike Morrow and Ernest Roberts. They definitely saved more than one mis-grooved bench on this day, including the closet call I've ever seen when Illini lifter Andrew Kim lost a bench back towards his head. The bar was literally inches from Andrew's head! I would not have been able to run this or any meet with all this of great help. Most of them volunteered their time for their love of the sport. Without such generous volunteers, this sport could not exist!
And finally, the lifters were met with a number of extras at this meet, thanks to my sponsors. All Pro Protein helped out APF Illinois again with 5 pound bags of whey protein for all the best lifters. Monster Muscle provided free t-shirts for all the staff, as well as free Monster Muscle magazines for all the lifters. The lifters also had free Powerlifting USA magazines, also given away free thanks to PLUSA. Both of these publications do a great job covering the great sport of powerlifting, and powerlifters should support them both. Finally, World Champion Powerlifter and Bench Press Sidney Thoms and her husband Alan Thoms took pictures of the meet on very short notice. Here's another "thanks" to all of those companies who were generous enough to sponsor APF Illinois and this meet.
Thanks again to everyone who helped me run this meet, and congratulations to all the lifters. Stay tuned to APF-Illinois.com for upcoming APF meets in Illinois. Especially look to this summer when I will run the APF/AAPF Chicago Summer Bash II, which looks to be even bigger and better than the first Chicago Summer Bash.
Eric Stone
Meet Director
2005 APF/AAPF Windy City IRONMAN
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And now for some plugs for our sponsors:
To purchase CDs of pictures of the meet for $10 shipped, contact Sidney Thoms at sidalt@sbcglobal.net
For one of the best powerlifting gyms in the world, with some of the best powerlifting equipment available:
Frantz Sports Center
For some of the great t-shirts the staff wore at the meet, and for some of the best coverage of the iron game:
Monster Muscle Magazine
Another great magazine covering the great sport of powerlifting:
Powerlifting USA
PO Box 467
Camarillo, CA 93011
(800) 448-7693
For some of the great protein from the meet:
All Pro Protein
5 lbs of Whey Protein for $28 shipped!
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