Spring Invitational and Battle for the Belt

The spring invitational on Saturday February 16 looked to have a lot of excitement in store as some lifters were posting good practice totals, others were working hard but not so much from the floor, and still others would be lifting in their first meet.  Always an interesting experience and quite the long walk from the training platform where you can always tighten up and take it again without penalty to the competition platform where there is not any quarter.
"No quarter; none taken, none given."  On to the meet.

many thanks to the volunteers who help put the meet on and run it smoothly:  Kellene as scorekeeper, Pat and Dave as loaders, Frank, Chelsea, and Fern as the referees.  Thanks also to Elite Chiropractic for some energizing massage and manipulation for the lifters.  

After contesting the standard contest, the club would also battle for The Belt.  This battle was a medley of:  sled push (for most people, anyhow) followed by threading beads followed by plate carry followed by a handwriting exercise followed by farmer's walk.  Fastest time in this event scored more points.  Lifter with the most points between the lifting competition and the medley would be declared the winner.   Ron, the holder of the belt at the time, told everyone he didn't even bring it because there would be no point.  Would these words come back to haunt him later as he did not "bring it" but others did.

In the lifting contest, the first four lifters could not have done better personal performances than what they did today.  Very nice.
Terre, lifting in her first meet for Cincinnati Weightlifting Club, hit a PR snatch, PR clean and jerk, PR total, and set a state of Ohio record in her weight class.
Abby, tuning up for university championships in April, hit a PR snatch, hit a PR CJ at a weight she could not even stand up with in the last meet, and a PR total.  Oh, and set a state of Ohio record in her weight class.
Jessica, not wanting to miss out, hit 3 PRs and set a state record in her weight class.
Erik, attempting to qualify for youth nationals as a 14 years old 77 kilo lifter did it.  First he had to snatch a mis loaded barbell (which he did) then he had to hit the Q total by uncorking a PR CJ.

With these four setting the bar pretty darn high, the men went to work.

Adam, from Central Kentucky Weightlifting Club, lifting in his first meet went 6 for 6 and posted 76/102/178.  Nice work.
Keith, in heavy prep work for July nationals, hit respectable 72/92/164 and will be in a better spot for Arnold in a few weeks.
Jordan finally was able to hit his opening snatch to set a PR and then put up two good jerks, again posting PR there.  A three PR day for him.
Matt lifting in his first weightlifting meet went three for three in snatch, including one snatch he moved so fast there were vapor trails coming off the collars, and two for three in CJ.  He posted respectable total of 85/100/185.  
Zach just could not dial in the snatch correctly and ended up all over the platform with his opening attempt.  His jerk went better including a PR CJ.  Not a bad note on which to finish, but no total this time. he will learn a lot from his first bomb out.
Ron had been practicing well and looked to snag at least one PR, but this was not the case.  He tied his PR snatch and PR CJ for a nice day of 4/6 and 90/110/200.
George lifting in his first meet has been working hard over the last few weeks; hopefully it would pay off.  The snatch opener went great.  Plenty of energy and snap.  Too bad the next two attempts were not the same way.  Just not enough wrist extension and the bar stayed out in front of him.  His CJ would be better as he got his opener easily, looking like a Olympic weightlifter from a few years back, and he got his second.  The third was just a bit too much for him.  92/137/229 as a 104.2 (where that 0.2 would make a big difference later...)
Ben lifting in his first meet since October finally cracked the 100 barrier officially in his snatch:  102!  Yay.  Could he hold on to that momentum crystal going in to the CJ?  He cleaned 127, with tons of room to spare, and jerked it.  It looked more like a press than a jerk...easy.  Then, 132 no good.  Warming up for his third attempt, he cleaned 130 twice and declared he wanted 137.  Against my better judgement, the bar was loaded to the 137.  It was a pretty good looking fast moving deadlift.  He was credited with 102/127/229 at a body weight of 104.1.

Best lifter was Ron with a Sinclair of 268.19 followed by Ben at 250.53, George at 250.44, and Keith at 250.35.

Based upon points earned in the lifting contest, Terre was in the lead (not insurmountable) with Jordan and Erik right in there close to her.  At this point, Ron probably would not be able to defend his title.  After some discussion, Jordan and Erik went first.  Jordan posted best time so far.  Zach, who could act as spoiler, and Terre went next.  Zach overtook Jordan for the lead.  Then, everybody got into the act, including Pat with no warming up and an afternoon of loading.

At the end of the Crazy Medley, Matt posted the fastest time (and prompted the development of the Matt Rule, similar in philosophy to the famous Kazmaier rule) with Pat, Zach, Jordan, and Ben rounding out the rest.

None of this mattered as Terre's lead did prove to be insurmountable and she stood alone.  Next battle, Terre gets to defend The Belt.