Post by McLifter on Nov 30, 2014 17:52:39 GMT -5
17 Wing Powerlifting Report
Well another successful meet has come and gone. This was the fourth meet of the year here in Manitoba and it was full of new lifters, excellent lifting and a plethora of records that fell to the efforts of this crop of iron warriors. In fact there were 82 MPA records that fell last Sunday! I was under the impression that we would have a few less records fall given the number of competitions and a natural levelling off of record breaking after the new weight classes had been in effect for awhile. However, I think this speaks to the level of new competitor that is coming into the sport. I’ve noticed that a lot of the new competitors are entering these meets and they have decent technique which translates into strength. It must be a function of the new media era where information is readily available to any interested party.
As, is my habit I will start by thanking all of the volunteers that donated their time and energy to make this a successful event. A HUGE Thank You goes out to Caitlyn Clement who acted as the meet director for this event. Caitlyn put her military training to good use by organizing every aspect of this event. Caitlyn has taken over the reins of the 17 Wing Strength Club and organized this event to comply with the new rules and guidelines that clubs who are affiliated with a military base are subject to. Caitlyn was also supported by the founder of the 17 Wing Strength Club Rob Snow. As most of you know Rob and his family have returned to Winnipeg from the East coast and we are very happy in the Powerlifting community to have him back. Rob applied his usual schmoozing tactics to secure a very nice package of supplements and goodies for the lifters and volunteers who were at this meet.
Backstage we had a couple of veterans assisting in ensuring the meet ran well. The past President of the 17 Wing Strength Club Al Bugden assisted the large group of first time lifters in submitting their attempts on time and helping them figure out their attempts in Kilograms. Bruce Markham our MPA Vice President (aka – “The Cerebral Assassin”) acted as Technical Controller for the meet assuring that all lifters were properly attired and ready to lift when their name was called.
On the platform we had the hardest working individuals of the meet. That would be the Spotters & Loaders. These four men worked their collective asses off to have every weight and rack height ready for every attempt of the meet. The four are; Ryan Mitchell, Matthew MacMillan, Chris McMillan and Tyrone Afram. These guys were exhausted by the time the Deadlift rolled around so it was a good thing that the bar was on the floor. If you know them personally take a moment to say thank you. If you run into them over the next while offer them your gratitude and maybe a complimentary drink of their choice. Thanks to all four of you and congratulations on having no misloads!!
At the head table working the computer and filling out the Scorecards were Matt Clanison (sp?) and Caitlyn’s husband Chris who is a whiz with on the computer and has helped us out on at least one other competition this year. This is a challenging job and these two did the job of four making sure the meet ran well.
We can not have a Powerlifting Meet without Officials to judge the lifting. This ensures the integrity of the sport, the validity of the records helps everything flow smoothly no matter if you are lifting locally here in Manitoba or at the World Championships somewhere. The integrity and impartiality of our officials helps with the consistency of an IPF sanctioned meet no matter where it occurs. At this event we had Susan Haywood a CPU National Referee and two Provincial level Refs in Tamara Cunningham and Rob Snow. They sat through every attempt and called the rules fairly throughout the day.
The state of women‘s Powerlifting in the MPA is improving and growing each and every competition. This meet was no different as we had nine women competing again. It was a mix of four newcomers and four returning female lifters. Interestingly eight of the nine women were in the 84 or 84+ weight classes. Hailey Kostynuik was at her fourth meet of the year and she proved that she is still making gains as Hailey improved on all of her previous bests which just happens to be the best in the Province. Hailey is a Junior lifter but she was one of two women with the largest total. Hailey struggled in the squat getting one squat at 142.5kg, followed by two benches and two deadlifts for a 397.5kg total and all of the records for a Junior and Open 84+ woman in the province.
There were three newcomers who all lifted in the Woman’s Open 84+ weight class. Samantha McFarlane was sailing along with a perfect day entering the deadlifts. I’m not sure what the issue with her first and second attempts was but she missed 125, 145 and then needed her third at 150kg to stay in the meet. Well, she was able to sort out the technical problem and pulled her third for a 350kg total and 1st place! Kara Gray and Kristi Aiello were duking it out for second and third place. Kara was ahead by 7.5kg at the sub total and improved on that with a 147.5kg pull to Kristi’s 135. This gave Kara a comfortable 20kg lead at the end 307.5kg to Kristi’s 287.5. All three ladies performed very well for their first meet!
There were also three competitors in the 84kg weight class. This battle saw the return of Kelsey MacGillivray to the platform after some time off to see the world. Krista Vandewaeter was showing improvement and dropping bodyweight too. Newcomer Alyssa Amanda Sankar showed real promise with a solid 8/9 performance totalling 282.5kg for third place. Krista had a good performance in the squats finishing with 120kg, followed by a single successful Bench of 57.5 and a 140kg deadlift for 317.5kg total and second place! Kelsey did not show any platform rust as she went 9/9 shattering her Provincial Bench Record with a nice 100kg press. Kelsey, like Hailey totalled 397.5kg but her Wilks Coefficient was the best for the women at 357.75.
There was one 57kg competitor but she had a fantastic day of lifting. Jannelle Van Den Bosch came into this meet with a very focused training regime and some serious goals to fuel her desire for a great performance. Jannelle also was able to go 9/9 and improved on every one of her lifts garnering the Provincial Records in the class for her efforts. Jannelle Squatted 100kg almost benched her bodyweight at 52.5kg and pulled 127.5kg for a 280kg total and second place amongst the women with a Wilks of 326.704!! Congratulations Jannelle you worked hard and did very well.
When the entries were received it was looking like there was going to be a big battle in the 83kg and 93kg Men’s weight classes. Now when the weigh ins were complete there had been some movement but these two classes provided the anticipated battles.
We will begin with a new lifting family that has emerged on the local Powerlifting scene this year. There are three of them and when you see them warming up and lifting you really need a program to tell who the players are. These three are comprised of a pair of brothers and a cousin. The three of them are making inroads on the MPA record books in the lighter weight classes as they build on their lifting resume. This was the second competition for all three. Tyler Kolesar was alone in the 59kg weight class and he put on quite a show. Tyler too was able to go 9/9 on the day with the following as his best lifts 137.5, 102.5, 182.5 and a 422.5 total which all were new MPA records!! Brother Ryan lifted in the next higher weight class at 66kg. Consistency was the word of the day as Ryan also was a perfect 9/9 with bests of 162.5, 105, and 202.5 for a 470 total!! Ryan also earned a Deadlift record for his efforts.
Benjamin Langley is the younger, bigger cousin of Tyler and Ryan. Benjamin was lifting alone as a Junior lifter in the 74kg weight class. Benjamin went 7/9 only missing his last tries in the Bench and Dead. However, all of Benjamin’s lifts were record breakers and I think he surpassed Hailey with the most records broken at this meet with 21 in total! Benjamin was able to set the Junior, Open and Military 74kg records with some Equipped and Benchpress Single lift records to flesh out his record haul. I was unaware that Benjamin was a Military lifter until Caitlyn brought it to my attention. This was a banner day for the Kolesar brother’s and Cousin Benjamin. I did hear that all three are interested in going to Nationals in April as they have qualified. This should certainly bode well for Manitoba Team points at the Nationals next year.
So now we come to the one of the hotly contested weight classes of the day, the 83kg class. There were two Junior 83kg lifters in another pair of brothers Nicholas and Mikal Thrones. I observed these two trading brotherly challenges during warm ups. Nicholas proved to have a better day on the squats with a 177.5kg lift to Mikal’s 160kg. Both lads had missed heavier attempts at 187.5 and 185 respectively. Nicholas extended his advantage in the Bench by pressing 112.5kg on his second and waiving his third. Mikal pressed out 107.5kg on his third. This left Mikal 22.5kg behind at the sub total but he had a plan. That plan was to re-enforce the old adage, “the meet doesn’t start until the bar hits the floor”. It was not meant to be as Mikal was successful with his first but unlucky with his try at 240kg which would have given him the win and family bragging rights by equalling Nicholas’ total but beating him by being the lighter man. Nicholas just steadily lifted within himself and was successful with all three pulls finishing with 217.5kg and a 507.5 total. This should prove interesting as these two face off against each other in the future.
The remaining three 83kg competitors all accomplished something that I do not think I have ever observed before. That is, they all exceeded the existing total record for the weight class!! This is quite something and it demonstrates how good the lifting was on the 23rd. Quin Ferguson led the charge with a 200kg Squat. Vince Salemi was close behind with 192.5 and Victor Aguilar Barajas was in third with 172.5kg. Not a missed squat amongst them! The Bench proved a little more challenging with Victor establishing the new Provincial record with a 140kg 2nd attempt. Vince was good for 132.5kg on his second too for silver in the Bench. Quin had some difficulty, only managing his first at 115kg. But, that left the Deadlift which Quin proved adept at in June by setting a new Provincial record back then. All three men were 3/3 in the Deadlift with Quin on top with 250kg, Vince and Victor neck and neck at 232.5 and 230kg. The aforementioned totals shook out with Quin on top 565, Vince second with 557.5 and Victor in third at 542.5kg all of which exceeded the previous total record. Vince also happens to be a Military lifter and he broke all of the Military records for his efforts. So, as you can see this battle proved to be worth the hype!
The 93kg class had five competitors. Now not everyone who declared they were lifting at 93 was there but it still proved close and competitive. Michael Reimer was a first time lifter training with Ram Fitness. He had a 7/9 day needing two tries at 225kg to garner the best squat. Andrew Roncadin was also lifting at his first meet. He had an excellent day going 9/9 and Squatting a PB of 195kg. Shawn McCarthy also squatted 195 but missed 200 on his third. Casey Paul was really enjoying himself lifting well (8/9 too) and grinning the entire day. Casey squatted 172.5kg. The fifth competitor was Jesse Jamison who is a veteran lifter who decided to drop a significant amount of weight to enter the 83kg class. He reached a plateau at 83.6 making him the lightest man in this class. Unfortunately for Jesse the combination of the weight cut and a virus left him calling it a day after being successful with a second try at 165kg. He looked ghostly when he wished me luck and drove himself home to, “probably throw up”.
That left the remaining four men to fight for supremacy in the 93kg class. Michael extended his lead with a 2nd Bench of 145kg. Andrew pressed out another PB of 132.5 with Shawn on his heels with 130kg on his second and a miss at 137.5. Casey rolled along with a 2nd press of 85kg. The Deadlift saw all four lifters make all of their deadlifts. Michael pulled 247.5kg for the highest total of the day at 617.5kg and first place. Andrew pulled 237.5kg for a 565 total and second place. Shawn pulled a best of 230 kg for a 555kg total and Casey was in fourth with a 195 pull and a 452.5kg total. So, this was another excellent competition within the competition.
Kyle Thompson was looking for redemption after not achieving a total in Dauphin earlier in the year. Kyle was alone in the Junior 105kg class and went 4/9 with two squats, one bench and one deadlift totalling 530kg via lifts of 192.5, 132.5 and 205. Kyle was pleased with the total.
There were three competitors in the Open 105 class. Paul Taylor owner of the Brickhouse Gym, Dr. Robert Waller training under the tutelage of Guy Page at Acceleration Fitness and Mathew Bowen who is a student at Brandon University. These three men all lifted very well with only two missed attempts out of 27 lifts collectively! Paul squatted 212.5, Bob – 200 and Mathew was at 192.5kg. All three men benched 127.5kg with Paul missing his third at 130! So, at the subtotal they were separated by their squat performance alone. Paul proved to have the largest pull finishing off with a 260kg/573lb Deadlift and the third highest total on the day of 600kg. Bob went 3/3 finishing off with a nice 242.5kg pull and a 570 total. Mathew missed his third pull but was successful with 227.5kg on his 2nd for third place overall with 547.5kg.
Patrick May was lifting alone in the 120kg Open class but he only missed a third attempt Bench to have a nice day of lifting with a 212.5kg Squat, 147.5kg Bench and a 252.5 pull and a 602.5kg total. It was a nice solid day of lifting for Patrick.
I was the final competitor and I too was lifting against myself. This was my second competition since tearing my quad tendon in 2012. I did have some goals the first of which was to squat 200kg. The squats went well and I did this on my third. I knew the bench would be a challenge as my right shoulder is suspect and weak. I opened light and then went to 107.5 for a good lift. This was 7.5kg below my best last November. I tried 112.5 but could not complete the press preferring to not blow out my shoulder. I had some confidence going into Deadlifts before the meet however; I slightly strained my right hamstring on the second squat which affected my drive off the floor. My starting position was less than optimum which contributed to my lack of success. The result; was a successful opener of 230 and two misses at 240kg. So I totalled less than last year at 537.5 and managed to improve on the Squat record. Not the day I had hoped for but I am still walking, talking and lifting so that is always a good thing.
After the awards and clean up we were greeted with some serious freezing rain on the windshield. I believe everyone made it home safely and the 2014 edition of the 17 Wing Powerlifting and Benchpress Championship was history.
I would like to thank again Caitlyn, Rob the volunteers, Referees and the staff of the 17 Wing facilities for making this meet a success. Thanks to all the friends and family who came out to support their favourite lifter and had to peek in through the window in the hallway to see the meet. I’ll see you on the wood in 2015. It should be an interesting and full year ahead of us.
Also lifting alone in the 84kg Women’s M1 Class was Janet Loesel Sitar who was back for her second meet this year. Janet had a solid day going 6/9 and improving on all of the MPA records in her class! This is quite an accomplishment in just her second competition. Janet took two attempts at 107.5 in the squat to get it on her third. Her Bench was looking good for 62.5kg best and she achieved a 300 lb Deadlift with a 137.5kg pull to finish up the contest and give her a 307.5kg total. Impressive lifting Janet and I apologize for missing your performance in my original report.
Brock Haywood
MPA President
IPF Category I Referee
