The day's heaviest total in fullpower (squat/benchpress/deadlift) was put up by North Hall alumnus Eric Timms of Murrayville, who put together a squat of 405, a benchpress of 360 and a deadlift of 500 for a sum of 1,265 pounds to take home the gold in the Men's Open Raw 220 pound fullpower class. It was a number he was more or less satisfied with.
"I knew if I could get around a 1,300 pound total, I'd be happy," Timms said.
"(I was) a little off on one of my squats; but I'm still happy because I know how close I was."
Timms said he didn't do sports during his time at North Hall and was spurred into weightlifting by a buddy of his about three years ago.
"I truthfully didn't want him to get bigger than me, so I started; and didn't know if I would grow because my Dad's a little guy. Much to my surprise, I started to grow; got into it. Three years later, (I'm) still doing it; love it."
Timms said this was only his second meet ever and the first time his wife had ever seen him lift. He described lifting in front of her and his friends as "fun" and "rewarding."
The day's heaviest benchpress came in the Master's Men's 55-59 year-old 220 pound Equipped class and was turned in by Georgia IronDawg Benchpress team captain, R. Garry Glenn of Oakwood, a Jefferson alum. The 59 year-old Glenn, who weighed in at 202.7 on Friday opened at 365 pounds and went to 390 on his second lift before changing benchpress shirts loading the bar to 430 for a third attempt, which he didn't get.
"One of my teammates, Gary Hatfield, who is off recruiting for Brenau softball, has loaned me a double-ply shirt and I thought, what the heck, let's put it on; load it up and give it a go. I hit that last lift too low and couldn't get under it, so it wasn't really close. That's the first time competing in that piece of equipment for me and it did give me some things to work on to try and get that shirt to work for me."
"Heaviest bench, that's good," Glenn said with a laugh. "That's just 'cause T Moon was judging and not lifting today. I'm not in his zip code when it comes to benching; but then few people are."
Tim Moon of Gainesville and another Jefferson alumnus, recently set world records in two different organizations less than two weeks apart, last month lifting nearly 761 pounds at the American Powerlifting Committee Nationals in Athens. He elected not to lift Saturday after being pressed into judging duties.
For Glenn it was his second State championship of the year after winning the APC Title in March. He won his ninth National championship at the June Athens meet.
Also winning gold Saturday was William "Buster" Brown of Gainesville who moved into town from Indiana. He benched 350 pounds to win the Bench Only Open Raw 220 pound class. Brown, and Ron Domanico of Atlanta tied for the best raw benchpress as Domanico also hit 350 to take gold in the 55-59 year-old Raw MM 198 pound Bench Only class.
Other northeast Georgian's who took firsts were Steve McHan of Dahlonega in the Master's Men's 242 lb. Raw Class as he went 9-for-9 on the day in totaling 1,130 pounds; and Clarence Smith of Cleveland who pressed 245 pounds to win the MM 65-69 year-old 242 pound class.
Forty-four year old Sonji Baldwin of Conyers had the heaviest women's bench as she took gold in the Open Raw 165-pound class with an impressive press of 290 pounds. Anabel Green of Ridgeland, South Carolina totaled 690 pounds to take the title in the Women's Open Fullpower 198+ class. Her brother Kennard totaled 1,190 to take gold in the 198 Men's Raw Open class.
One of the most impressive totals of the day came from Griffin, Georgia's Asa Davis in the 16-17 year-old 148 pound class. After weighing in at just over 135 pounds, Davis totaled 1,020 for the three lifts. Another teen lifter, Carter Fitzgerald of Marietta, also impressed in the 18-19 year-old 198 pound class with 1,190 pounds, including a 500 pound deadlift.
The meet also featured a push/pull (benchpress/deadlift) competition involving a group of adult Special Olympians from Savannah, including the husband and wife duo of Jill and Eric Dewitt and top lifter Chuck Ries, who totaled 625 pounds in winning gold in the 275 pound Raw Open Class.
The group had to miss last year's meet, and head coach Jim Chaplin said they were very anxious to come back.
"Everyone did really well, and they were happy to make it out here," Chaplin said, noting that a number of personal records were set and very few lifts were missed. "Every year it's 'Are we gonna make it to the Iron Beast? Are we gonna make it to the Iron Beast?'"
Chaplin said the group, who sometimes has to be held back from training too hard, was motivated to lift big weights and break some personal records by the recent passing of founder Rhonda Langford.
"They really wanted to lift well for Rhonda, and I think they did so," Chaplain said.
The Georgia Games wishes to thank the judges, spotters, loaders and table workers for their volunteer work and Harmony Street Baptist Church of Gainesville for the loan of chairs for the audience. Buddy Duke of Columbus served as Meet Director. Nate Cloutier was the Georgia Games venue chief.
Group shot:Kneeling (l-r) : Ron Domanico, R.Garry Glenn
http://accesswdun.com/article/2013/7/263720