APA Space City Bench Press Extravaganza

It was a hot day for benching at the Health Clubs of America in Houston, Texas.  ABC’s Channel 13 of Houston showed to up to film the entire meet giving our athletes and meet lots of local coverage.

In the men’s 146 masters Jack Beasly missed his opener of 285to come back and nail 290.

In the 165’s, 12 year old Jessie Burttschell opened his day with an easy 165.  He came right back to hit 180 and 190 both for teen world records.  Jessie took a 4^th at 200 but just didn’t have the gas lift to do it.  In the junior division, John Calvilla got an easy opener of 315 and came back to hit 355 on his 2^nd attempt for a Texas record.  Master lifter Lee Lichtle from Florida, got his opener of 225, but missed both his 2^nd and 3^rd attempts.

Lifting in the 198 novice division and submasters, Erik Anderson had a bad day missing all of his attempts.  Erik opened up a little heavy for his first meet but will be back soon.

Luis Zabala, also lifting in his first meet, nailed his opener of 445 only to come back and miss 470 and 480 on his 2^nd and 3^rd attempts in the 220 novice division.  In the submaster division, Raul Perez had a rough day just missing all three of his attempts.  Master lifter Keith Barbier, got his opener of 330 but just missed 355 and 360 on his 2^nd and 3^rd attempts.  Also lifting in the master division, 52 year old Steve Rosengurg nailed his 1^st attempt of 275 but missed his next two attempts of 300.

Michael Parker, lifting in the 242 novice division had a great 1^st meet nailing all three of his attempts of 405, 445 and 455.  Look for this lifter to come back and set some big  records soon.  In the open division, Eric Wright got his 1^st attempt easily putting 630 in the books.  Wright came back with 650 and 660 but just didn’t have it.  Eric walked away from the meet with the title of best lifter.  Chad Matthews, also in the open division, had a rough day missing 575 all three attempts.

Lifting in the 275 novice division, Jason Phelps started off a little heavy and just missed all three of his attempts going 545.  In the submaster division, Raymond Plunkett had an easy win with his opening attempt of 500.  Plunkett came back with 550 on his next two attempts but just missed them both.  In the master division, 49 year old Raymond Young had a great day taking home 2 Texas records by going 385 and 405 on his 1^st two attempts.  Young just missed 425 on his last attempt.  Taking 2^nd place in the master division, Randy Abendroth got his 2^nd and 3^rd attempts of 345 and 365.

In the 308 submaster, Steve Burttschell nailed 555 on his 1^st attempt for a Texas record only to come back and miss 585 twice.  In the open division, Tiny Meeker took 905 for 3 attempts just missing all 3 of them by an inch from lock out.  Meeker will no doubt hit 905 in the next few weeks.

Thanks very much to Pete Lattanzi, Blake Sterling and Brian Nugier for the great work they did spotting and loading for the meet.  Also a big thanks to Josh Ash, Brian Kline, and Brian Propst for the excellent job officiating the event.  Thanks also to Maria McCullough for her hard work as score keeper, expediter, and photographer.  I also would like to thank Charlie Turco and his wife for setting up a House of Pain booth and the great photos.  A special thanks also to John Inzer of Inzer Advance Designs for your continued help and support, as well as Mike Lambert of Powerlifting USA.  Last but not least I would like to thank The Health Clubs of America for your support of this sport and for providing us with the space to hold these meets.  Without all of the above, meets like this would not happen.