IronDawgs lead the way at Georgia Games weightlifting competition

GAINESVILLE -- It was a good day for members of the Georgia IronDawgs Powerlifting team on Saturday at the 2014 edition of the Georgia State Games in Gainesville. <br /> <br /> The IronDawgs came away with a number of gold medals as well as some of the best performances of the day in the meet held at their home gym, the Iron Beast.<br /> <br /> Steve Shepherd of Winder paced the Dawgs on the day, winning two categories as he struck gold in both the Men's Open and the Master's Men's 45-49-year-old, 275-pound Raw Fullpower Classes, as he had the heaviest total of the day. Shepherd squatted 615 pounds, benchpressed 410 pounds and deadlifted 545 pounds to total 1,570 pounds. He fell only 30 pounds shy of his goal of a 1,600 pounds total when he could not complete his last deadlift attempt of 575. <br /> <br /> Cody Thornton, Shepherd's training partner in Winder, took time out from his Strongman competitions, to do a fullpower meet and wound up winning the Raw Open 242-pound class with his total of 1,410 pounds (S-450, B-385,D-575). Thornton does much of his Strongman training at the Iron Beast.<br /> <br /> IronDawg Bench Team Captain, R. Garry Glenn of Oakwood, finished with 375 pounds in taking the gold medal in the MM 60-64-year-old 220-pound Equipped Class. Glenn, who weighed in a little under 204, had the heaviest press of the day in the bench-only category. He is a 1972 alumnus of Jefferson High, where he was a varsity letterman in football and wrestling. <br /> <br /> IronDawg teammate, George Bradley of Gainesville took another Georgia Games gold medal in winning the MM 55-59-year-old 148-pound Equipped Class with his press of 240 pounds. IronDawg Zack Layfield of Flowery Branch benched 175 pounds in winning the MM 70-74, 165-pound Raw category.<br /> <br /> Other local lifters that took firsts included 69-year-old Clarence Smith of Cleveland, who pressed 245 pounds in winning the MM 65-69 242-pound Raw Bench-only Class; as well as Iron Beast employee Brandon (B.J.) Skatkowski of Hoschton, who won the novice Junior Men's Raw 275-pound Fullpower Class with his total of 965 pounds (S-355, B-205, D-405).<br /> <br /> The heaviest total for women went to Sandy Springs' Katie Baldwin, who at 140 pounds was also the lightest (in bodyweight) of the women's competitors in the regulation meet. Baldwin totaled 520 pounds (S-175, B-95, D-250) in taking the title of the Women's Open 148-pound Raw Fullpower Class. <br /> <br /> The wife/husband team of Adrienne and Pat Frizelle of Smyrna took gold in winning their respective Master's Fullpower Raw Classes with their totals of 490 and 815 pounds, respectively, while the oldest competitor was 76-year-old Thomas Walters of Williamston, S.C., who totaled 525 pounds in taking the title of the MM 75-79, 181-pound Raw Fullpower Class. The Frizelles and Walters plan to try and complete the weightlifting double-play by lifting in the Olympic Weightlifting competition in two weeks in Marietta.<br /> <br /> The meet also featured competition by Special Olympics athletes from Savannah.<br /> <br /> The meet director and chief judge was once again Buddy Duke of Columbus, while IronDawg National and World Champions Dana Tripp of Lawrenceville, and Mike Kidd and Tim "T" Moon of Gainesville also served as judges. The Georgia Games also wishes to thank the spotters and loaders as well as the other volunteers.<br /> <br /> Complete results will be available in a few days at www.georgiagames.org.<br /> The next meet for many of the IronDawgs will be the America's Cup competition in Kennesaw in September.

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