Area lifters sweep away titles at state championships

ATHENS -- It was a sweep for local powerlifting teams this past weekend at the American Powerlifting Committee (APC) State Championships in Athens. 

Hall County-based squads took team titles in fullpower, benchpress-only, and push/pull (bench/deadlift). The Georgia IronDawgs who won in bench-only and push/pull as well as the fullpower Onepercent Krew, headquartered at the Iron Beast gym in Gainesville. 

The teams also snagged some of the top individual awards as state and national records fell during the meet. As a state meet, only state and U.S.A. records, not world marks could be set.

Tim “T” Moon of Gainesville, a Jefferson High alumnus, and the IronDawgs took home the championship in the equipped master’s men’s 50-54-year old 140-kilogram (kg)/308.64-pound class with his record lift of 347.5 kg/766.1 pounds; the heaviest benchpress of the day. He also got the men’s best lifter award in bench-only. 

The Women’s bench-only bet lifter award went to the ’Dawgs’ Dana Tripp of Lawrenceville, as she set a new USA mark of 47 kg/103.62 pounds in taking the state title in the raw master’s women’s 52-kg/114.64-pound 40-44-year old division. 

The Krew’s Eric Head, of Dahlonega, a former benchpress specialist now branching out into fullpower, took the best lifter in that category as well as the title in the open men’s division at 60 kg/132.28 pounds with his total in the three lifts (bench, squat, and deadlift) of 572.5 kg/1,262.13 pounds. Head’s bench of 182.5 kg/402.34 pounds reportedly set a new national record for any federation for a fullpower meet, breaking a 35-year-old record of 397 pounds. He also had a squat of 195 kg/429.9 pounds and a deadlift of that same weight -- almost 430 pounds. He was runner-up by co-efficient score to Cleveland, Tenn., resident Samantha Coleman for the champion of champion’s award. Coleman’s total of 636.5 kg/1,403.23 pounds earned her the raw open championship of the 90-plus kg/198.41-plus pounds class as well as the overall best lifter title. It was reportedly one of the highest totals ever for a female lifter in the raw or unequipped classes. It was the second APC meet in a row and only the second overall in the organization’s history that a female lifter took the overall award. Last month in Gainesville, Dawsonville’s Charity Witt got the overall best lifter at the Iron Beast Invitational in Gainesville.

Other winners for the Onepercent Krew included Gainesville’s Angie Centeno in the women’s open 132 with her total of 350 kg/771.61 pounds. She set records across the board with her squat (132.5 kg/292.11 pounds), bench (57.5 kg/126.76 pounds) and deadlift (160 kg/352.74 pounds) in her first fullpower meet ever. In December, she completed a push/pull competition.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Centeno said. “I just came here to have fun and do my best.”

Centeno was not expecting all those records to fall and had gotten into powerlifting because, “I like to feel I’m strong.” She began lifting to just train for herself, but now she likes the competition aspect.

“It’s a challenge to myself.” she added, noting it was a way to spur her to “train harder and do better,” and there were girls at the Saturday meet who inspired her to keep doing it.

Krew team captain, Marcell Allen of Gainesville, part-owner of the Iron Beast and a former Jefferson wrestler, won the state championship in the raw men’s open 90-kg weight class with his total of 722.5 kg/1,592.82 pounds. Along the way he broke his own national bench mark with a press of 192.5 kg/424.39 pounds. He also had a squat of 250 kg/551.15 pounds and a deadlift of 235 kg/518.08 pounds.

Steve Shepherd, of Winder, set national marks in all lifts and his total (squat: 280 kg/617.29 pounds, bench: 187.5 kg/413.6 pounds, deadlift: 245 kg/540.13 pounds, and total: 712.5 kg/1,570.78 pounds) as he went eight for nine and won the raw masters men’s 45-49, 140-kg class. 

Strongman/powerlifter Cody Thornton, of Winder, Shepherd’s sometimes training partner, set personal records in the tough raw open 110 kg/242.51 pound weight class and took fourth with his total of 690 kg/1,521.17 pounds, squatting 235 kg/518.08 pounds, benching 180 kg/396.83 pounds, and deadlifting 275 kg/606.27 pounds. 

The Krew was also bolstered by a strong performance from Dawsonville’s Tyler Cummings, as he won the raw 110 kg junior men’s championship (squat: 310 kg/683.43 pounds, benchpress: 205 kg/461.94 pounds, deadlift: 327.5 kg/722 pounds, and total: 842.5 kg/1,857.38 pounds).

Jefferson’s James Houston competed on the IronDawgs push/pull team and lifted equipped in the open 100 kg/220.46 pound class and took the top medal with a bench of 167.5 kg/369.27 pounds, deadlift of 227.5 kg/501.55 pounds and total 395 kg/870.82 pounds.

In addition to Moon and Dana Tripp’s record lifts for the bench-only team, Dana’s husband’s Russ took the title in the raw masters men’s 45-49, 75 kg/165.35 pound class by pressing 142.5 kg/314.16 pounds. 

Strongman competitor Chris White of Sugar Hill entered his first powerlifting competition in years and won the raw masters men’s 45-49 125 kg/275.58 pound bench state championship with his lift of 205 kg/451.94 pounds. White made a run at breaking Moon’s national record but fell a bit shy of the 215.5 kg/475.09 pounds on a fourth lift. 

Zack Layfield, of Flowery Branch, the dean of the ’Dawgs, won the title in the masters men’s 70-74, 82.5 kg/181.88 pound class when he lifted 85 kg/187.39 pounds at a bodyweight of around 167 pounds. 

IronDawg team captain, R. Garry Glenn, of Oakwood, at a bodyweight of around 204 pounds, broke his own state record in the masters men’s 60-61 year old 100 kg class when he pressed 147.5 kg/325.18 pounds but failed to lock out a national record attempt of 153 kg/337.3 pounds.

“We are very happy with our performances overall,” Glenn said. “All of this continues to prove what I have been saying over the last several years, some of the strongest men and women in the world live right here in northeast Georgia.”  Glenn is a former Jefferson High football player and wrestler.

Lifting unattached this meet, IronDawgs Uwe Thormann of Palm Harbor, Fla., won the title in the fullpower raw masters men’s 55-59, 110 kg with his total of 500 kg/1,1102.3 pounds, while Andy Williamson, of Winterville, took home the top medal in the equipped bench-only for masters men’s 45-49, 110 kg with his press of 185 kg/407.85 pounds. 

Clay Cochran, of Gillsville, who also trains in Gainesville at the Iron Beast, won the raw men’s 100 kg open push/pull with a total of 312.5 kg/688.94 pounds. He completed a national record push/pull deadlift on a fourth lift of 197.5 kg/435.41 pounds.

Other best lifter’s in the meet included Clay Etheridge, of Forsyth, equipped open men’s champ with his total of 505 kg/1,113.32 pounds; deadlift-only raw women, Luynh Ho Bui, of Dacula, national record, sub-master’s 60 kg class 160.5 kg/353.84 pounds; and deadlift-only men Mason Henson of Monroe, raw men’s open 67.5 kg/148.81 pound class, 170 kg/374.78 pounds.

The APC National Championships will be June 26-28 at the Holiday Inn Express in Athens, the same venue as the state meet.