MN STATE 2008
February 2nd
The Press Gym
MN state open has come and gone and it was mixed with some expected results and some surprises. The meet was set at The Press Gym in Little Canada. With the renovations over the past year and moving to a new location The Press Gym has put on some fantastic events. Here are some of the highlights as I saw them that day.
Women’s Ungeared was a deep contest with many attempts very close to each other. The prediction of the winner of this contest did come true and that is Maura Shuttleworth. Maura winning by Wilks even at a smaller bodyweight kept the rest of the pack at bay. It was not a sure thing as she lost some ground in the squat to 2nd place finisher Fawn Friday whom should major power in the squat and dead. Maura held onto the win with some hard fought deadlifts and a world class bench. Maura sets all records in the ungeared women’s open 114 class.
Fawn Friday in her first meet gave a great run at Maura Shuttleworth showing almost no signs of it being her first event. Fawn also sets all the ungeared records for the 123 class. This included a 127.5 kilo pull that she needed two attempts to get. Now I mention this as the first attempt she made at this lift made me wonder if she had anything left. She came back and destroyed it at the end.
Shari Cowles overcame the first meet jitters with class and power. I got nervous for her on her opener. Good squatters are taught to make your walk out very short and which she did right from her opener. The thing is she made it a little two short and banged the rack on the way up throwing her off balance. She came back undeterred putting together a great total of 297.5 pounds
The teen class took me off guard and Travis Slater took advantage of his bigger size and good attempts to sail past the rest of the pack. His openers were almost more then the rest of the packs 3rd attempts. He took some chances on his 3rd attempts but missed them never the less getting a great 602.5 total. Kyle Donlea did not let Travis win without a fight, but could not put the attempts together to finish the job. I see a grudge match in the future here.
In masters I saw two local favorites secure their titles. For the 50-59 Sid Reid had a very rough start in the squat missing his last two attempts but put it together at the end. I got to give a nod to Gary Grahn. Not only being the come back kid of 2007 he had the best way to bring in a bench he was having trouble with. Despite having trouble on his bench he gets a burst of speed that almost blinded you and yells.. “LOOK AT THAT!” Great stuff.
Joel Ford was also an interesting case to watch. Last time I saw him lift at the TCO I am not going to kid you it was like watching a train wreck. Joel was making all kinds of mistakes and the dreaded one of having a bar coming over your back and hitting you in the back of the head. Not a good day for Joel. At state however it was a new man hitting PRS on many of his lifts and having a perfect day. Way to go Joel as that is a sign of true powerlifting being able to recover from a meet like you had and do so well at the next.
The afternoon session was a great time. After getting back from the FU XING buffet. (no I am not kidding.. that is what its called and damn good food to) I saw BabyFace Bob Miller of millerefit.com handle many lifters a lot younger then he is quite easily in the ungeared division. He also took all the records in the 220 masters and open ungeared. He also managed to have some of the heaviest lifting of the meet (geared or ungeared) with a 230 kilo squat and 637.5 total.
Chasing after Bob was David Fleck. Fleck like Bob at the last TCO is making a comeback in powerlifting after a long absence. Last meet Fleck did was 1991 High School Nationals which he won. Coming back to a sport with different rules was not easy but David made it work hitting almost all his attempts quite well. I think Fleck will be back.
Joining Bob in the ungeared division for the Masters was John Dorsher. John as you know hails from an Olympic weightlifting background but knows where his heart really goes to and that is Powerlifting. John put together a 590 kilo total not that far behind Bob. Only disadvantage John has is his bench as Olympic lifting does not lend well to a good bench. Maybe John will make the change over full and taken on Bob? We shall see…
Rock Star Tony Williams in the 165 shook off the groupies and his competition all at once for one of the biggest totals I have seen yet out of him. He was worried that he was going to ‘get fat’ and move up to 181 class. Tony managed to keep slender and moved a 645 total. This total included a bit 260 kilo pull at the end.
Mitch Edelstein claimed another state title. Nate Nord whom I thought was going to clean house and come off like a volcano did do as such but could not hold it together technically and got read lights in all bench attempts. He ripped 500+ in the bench but his butt came coming off the bench drawing the reds.
I would like to give a nod to guest lifter Jesse Canton getting his first Mens Open National qualifier and will be attending this contest as a result. Rich Edinger said it best on the USAPL forum
‘Congrats to Jesse Canton for qualifying for men's nationals via 628 424 611 1664 @ 220 at MN State. The City of Fargo now has two people qualified for the big dance.”
Thanks again everyone who made this meet happen. Thanks to Angela Simons who continues to give us great contests and all the help at the event. Thanks to The Press Gym for hosting us. Thanks to Fred Clary for sponsoring this event. Visit his website at drclary.com for his Chiropractor services.
Thanks again everyone. See you at the next event.
For results of this event click here
Brad Madvig
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