ATHENS — Members of the United States team made a clean sweep of awards on day four of the Global Powerlifting Alliance (GPA) Raw World Championships at the Classic Center in Athens on Sunday. Just one day prior Team USA edged out a strong Colombian team to take the team title in fullpower (squat, benchpress, deadlift), and on Sunday the Americans took home team trophies in the benchpress-only and push/pull (bench/deadlift) categories.
Led by a contingent of northeast Georgia-based lifters, Team USA also posted a number of world records along the way. Two teams headquartered in Gainesville’s Iron Beast gym -- the Georgia IronDawgs and the 1% Krew -- sent lifters to this year’s GPA meet and many came away with records and world championships.
IronDawg Trey Hague of Augusta won world championships in three categories: Men’s Open 90 kilogram (kg)/198.41 pounds weight class, push/pull as well as bench-only and deadlift-only with his bench press of 165/363.76; deadlift of 220/485.01 and total of 848.77. Hague’s benchpress was also good enough for "best lifter" in the bench-only category.
Oakwood’s R. Garry Glenn was named bench press team captain by meet director L.B. Baker and competed in both bench-only and push/pull. Lifting at a bodyweight of just over 205 pounds in the l00 kg/220.46 pound class, Glenn established push/pull division world records across the board in bench press (148/326.28); deadlift (181.5/400.13) and total (329.5/726.42). He attempted to bump the world push/pull and national bench-only records to 153/337.3) on a fourth lift, but could not lock it out. Glenn has lifted with both the IronDawgs and the Krew. It was his ninth world bench-only title in various associations, but his first in push/pull. He is an alumnus of Jefferson High where he lettered in football and wrestling and served as a junior high wrestling and football coach. He is also a former Johnson High head wrestling and assistant football coach.
“I was honored to be chosen as Team Captain for the Bench squad,” Glenn said. “It was a privilege to lift with these men and women on that team and on push/pull. It was great to see some of my friends and acquaintances from other states and around the world. The camaraderie in this sport is second to none. I personally had a good day. Sorry to miss the last bench, but I told the good Lord if he’d let me get over 400 pounds in the deadlift, I wouldn’t tempt him with a fourth lift there. Look at our records and compare them with other associations. What you see continues to prove what I have been saying for years. Some of the strongest people in the world live right around here.”
Other IronDawgs that lifted in the bench-only category included the husband/wife tandem of Russ and Dana Tripp of Lawrenceville. Russ won the title in the master’s men’s 45-49 age, 75 kg/165.35 pound class with his lift of 145/319.67; while Dana won her master’s women’s 40-44-year-old 52 kg/114.64 pound division with her press of 47.5/104.72. Flowery Branch’s Zack Layfield took the title in the Master’s Men’s 70-74, 75kg class with a lift of 85/187.39. Layfield attempted to break his won world record of 89 kg/196.21 pounds, but a heavy mis-load on his fourth attempt left him to try to break the record on a fifth try and the attempt was unsuccessful. IronDawg Joey Murphy of Mt. Airy took the title and the world record in the master’s men’s 45-49 110 kg/242.51 pounds with his benchpress of 193/425.49, breaking Tim Moon’s old record.
Winterville’s Andy Williamson of the IronDawgs won the push/pull master's men's 50-54 110kg with his world record total of 382.5/843.26, breaking his own world marks in deadlift (232.5/512.57) and total along the way. He bumped the push/pull deadlift mark to 235/518.08 on a fourth lift, which is not figured into the regular meet totals.
Marcell Allen of Gainesville, a co-owner of the Iron Beast Gym and the founder of the 1% Krew, won the world championship in the open 110kg push/pull with his total of 464/1,022.93.
Other Best Lifter Awards went to a pair of Slovenian lifters. In the women’s 56 kg/123.46 pounds open class, Marisa Golob broke her own push/pull world marks with a bench of 95/209.44; deadlift of 160/352.74 and total of 255/562.17. She equaled the world bench-only record of 97.5/214.95 on a fourth lift. Her efforts let her take home Best Lifter Awards in all three categories. Training partner Erni Gregoric took "best lifter" in deadlift and push/pull. Lifting in the men’s sub-master (35-39 years old) 7kg category, Gregoric pulled 235/518.08 and totaled 377.5/832.24, breaking his own world records in deadlift and total along the way. He also bumped the push/pull deadlift world mark to 240/529.1 on a fourth lift. The "best lifter" without knee wraps award went to Florida's Steve Kylis who totaled 542.5/1,196 in taking the master's men's 60-64, 90kg class in world record fashion.
Complete results will be posted on the Global Powerlifting website globalpowerliftingalliance.com. The 2016 GPA World Meet is slated to be held in Moscow, Russia. The 2016 American Powerlifting Committee (APC) State and National Meets are scheduled to be held at the Iron Beast in Gainesville.
