It was a really fun day over at Blackbox, with a lot of very strong guys and girls. I weighed in at 80.3kg/177lbs and felt decent. Snatches went great, I hit 100kg/220lbs in competition for the first time, a milestone lift. Clean and Jerk was a bit of a mess, but that’s how it shakes out, sometimes! I Opened at 120kg/264lb and couldn’t catch it. I followed myself and made it on attempt 2. For #3, I went for 125kg/275lbs . This had been a milestone number for me, since highschool. I made the clean, easily, but the jerk went off balance. Ended the day with a 2kg PR on the comp total.

Snatch: 90kg/95kg/100kg (198lb/209lb/220lb)
Clean & Jerk: 120kgX/120kg/125kgX (264lbX/264lb/275lbX)
Total: 220kg

This was the first sanctioned USAW meet at Big Bend Strength and Conditioning, run by Brian Chambers. This was a really fun meet – I worked as center judge for the ladies session, and when that ended I got suited up to lift with the Men’s session. I weighed in at 79.7kg – about 175lbs. Overall winners were determined by sinclair score, so the 9 men were all pooled together. I got lucky today and managed to take Best Overall Male Lifter. The pace of the meet required some big jumps, so that I could avoid following myself on my attempts.

Snatch: 90kg/98kg/101kgX (198lbs/216lbs/222lbsX)
Clean & Jerk: 115kg/120kg/129kgX (253lbs/264lbs/284lbsX)
Total: 118kg

This was my first National level event, I signed on last-minute for it, since it was in Daytona, Florida – a fairly workable 4 hour drive from Tallahassee. I was originally scheduled to lift on Saturday morning. I was contacted Thursday and informed I would be lifting on Friday night, instead of Saturday morning. On Friday morning, I dropped the kids off at school and drove directly to Daytona. Brian Chambers was down with some of his athletes, and stepped up to help me try to put together a total.
I weighed in light at 79kg/174lbs and had a great snatch performance (at the time) going 90kg/95kg/100kgX but ran into trouble on clean and jerks. Clean and jerks went 115kgX/118kgX/118kg – incredibly close to bombing out. The scrutiny of judging at National level meets is definitely strict, as it should be. I did a poor job of feeding and watering myself during the drive, and the leadup to the meets. My anxiety and nervousness were sky-high going into the meet – another good reason to sign up and do the meet.

Snatch: 90kg/95kg/100kgX (198lb/209lb/220lbX)
Clean & Jerk: 115kgX/118kgX/118kg (253lbX/260lbX/260lb)
Total: 213kg

I walked away with silver for the total and bronze in snatch and also bronze in clean and jerk. I believe I had 9-10 other competitors in my age/weight class for that meet. This was the first time I really had to push for position in a meet.

I weighed in at 79kg/174lbs for the 81kg Masters class and left with a beautiful gold medal. This was my first “big” meet since returning to sport, my first time in a State Championship since collegiate USAPL state championships in college back at FSU. I was super nervous, but my Dad drove down and I had a local coach, Brian Chambers, that signed on to help count attempts in the warmup area and manage the technical side of the meet for me. Brian has been a huge help throughout my Weightlifting journey, and is also a student of Glenn Pendlay. Brian runs Big Bend Strength and Conditioning here in Tallahassee, Florida.
Snatch Attempts: 80kg/85kg/90kg (177lb/187lb/198lb)
Clean & Jerk Attempts: 108kg/115kg/120kgX (238lb/254lb/264lbX)
Total: 205kg

I weighed in at 79.5kg(175lbs), for the 81kg class. This was a tune-up meet, 3 weeks before the Florida State Championship meet. I opened lighter than planned on all lifts and I’m glad I did. I went into this with no one to count attempts for me, and, fortunately, a coach out of Black Hive Barbell in my old hometown, Jacksonville, stepped up and really helped me turn this into a decent meet.

Snatch: 85kg/90kg/92kgX (187lb/198lb/203lbX)
Clean & Jerk: 116kgX/116kg/120kg (255lbX/255lb/264lb)
Total: 210kg

This was a tune-up meet, preparing for States. It was an unsanctioned (non-USAW) olympic weightlifting meet on 5-25-2019 at Big Bend Strength and Conditioning. 1st annual Tallahassee Classic. Weights lifted were in pounds, not kg, with 5lb minimum jumps Bodyweight 81kg, mens 35-40 age group
Snatch attempts; 185lbs/195lbs/205lbs
Clean and Jerk attemps; 245lbs/260lbs/270lbsX
Total; 465lbs

About 2 months after my first meet, I realized that my shoulders were FUBAR from prior injury. I had full SLAP tears on both shoulders, but the right side was the one that had the most pain. I went in for surgery in May of 2018 for this.  WIthin about 30 days, I was back to working with a 20kg (44lb) bar overhead. 5 months after this, I would entered my first USAW sanctioned meet, flying out to Atlanta to compete.