Four U.S. junior athletes won gold medals at the Quebec Junior Championships in Montreal on Sunday while all ten U.S. Team members brought home medals. Three of the ten US team members are members of Hassle Free BBC (Sacramento, CA).
Seventeen-year-old Vang Weced (Sacramento, Calif.), a member of the 2009 Youth World Team, struggled on his opening lifts, but still had the best results of the day and a Gold Medal in the 56kg division with a snatch of 77kg, clean and jerk of 105kg and a total of 182kg.
Brandell Sampson (Sacramento, Calif.), also a member of the 2009 Youth World Team, had an excellent 278kg total and earned the silver medal in the 105kg division., Brandell was edged out by his Youth World teammate, Brandon Jackson (Orlando, Fla.) who had a 285kg total.
Hassle Free's Keylin Mackey (Colorado Springs, Colo.) won silver with a 258 Total and 5/6 performance. He had a 115 in the snatch and 143 C/J.
Complete US Team Results:
The growth and maturation of Hassle Free BBC's very young weightlifting team continued with a successful run at the 2009 American Open. Nearly 200 weightlifters, including members of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team and 2009 Senior World Team, competed this last weekend at the American Open in Mobile, Ala.
Sacramento High School Senior Sae Vang, a member of the 2009 Youth World Team and fresh off a Gold medal at the Quebec Junior Championships in November, took Gold again with an impressive 191 total and 5/6 performance. Sae was the youngest Gold medal winner at this years's prestigious event.
Also helping lead the Hassle Free BBC men's team to a 3rd place overall finish were Ian Wilson, Keylin Mackey and Kyle Saelee. 15-year old Ian Wilson (seen below), the youngest male lifter in the event, had maybe the most impressive results of his short career. Lifting in the 105kg weight class, Ian went 5/6 with a 137 snatch, 166 C/J for a 303 total and 5th place finish. Keylin Mackey, traveling from Colorado Springs where he trains at the Olympic Training Center, lifted in the 85kg class, went 5/6 for a 265 total and 6th place finish. Kyle Saelee, nurturing a bad back, turned in a gutsy performance with a 99 in the snatch, 125 in the C/J, for a 224 total. Kyle was the youngest lifter in the 77kg class and finishedin 16th place.
The Hassle Free Women's team was led by Kari Shimimura. Kari continues to improve and had one of her best meets, with a 7th place finish in the very competitive 63kg weight class. Kari snatched 67 and an 83 in the C/J for an outstanding 150 total. The youngest lifter in the 63kg class was our own Fahm Saephan. Fahm lifting in her first National Open event, had 2 PR's with 57 snatch, 71 C/J and a 128 total. Fahm finished in 15th place. Jackie Mah also made the trip this year, coming off a shoulder injury, finished in 9th place in the 75kg weight class with a 147 total.
Congratulations to all the Hassle Free Lifters and Coach Paul Doherty for another great performance!
See the attached for all the results:
I won't go so far to say that Clinton Johnson's success as a National Champion Weightlifter is the reason for his success on the football field, but it clearly is having an impact. Clinton made headlines in the Sacramento Bee this weekend after a 196 yard, 4 touchdown performance in the Sacramento Dragons 33-0 win over visiting Woodside High School.
Clinton was selected as a member of US Weightlifting's U-17 Pan Am men's team, but gave up his spot so he could stay home and support his team as the Dragons host Florin High School on Sept. 19.
Read the full story in the Sacramento Bee and come back soon as we follow Clinton's success throughout the season.
Sac Bee Story - http://www.sacbee.com/preps/story/2163847.html
Tommy Kono was back in town for the 4th Annual Tommy Kono Open at Sacramento High School this past weekend. Tommy traveled 2500 miles from his home in Honolulu as 60 lifters, both men and women, young and old, paid homage and competed in this annual USA Olympic Weightlifting event. The two-time Olympic and 6-time World Champion, also held a 2-hour Olympic Lifting clinic on Saturday for a very lucky two-dozen participants.
The event saw lifters ranging in age from twelve to eighty-one. Twelve year-old Florian Koch traveled all the way form Austria to win the 56k class, while eighty-one year old, Masters World Champion Dan Takeuchi, from Fresno, held his own in the 77kg weigth class.
There were many great performances, but eight athletes stood out. On the women's side, Junior World Team member, Chelsea Kyle, from Sandusky, Ohio had a 154kg total running away with gold in the 58kg weight class. The 20 year-old lifter also won both the Outstanding Junior Female and Outstanding Overall Female Lifter awards.
Also on on the women's side, Kevin Doherty's young girls team continued to break records. In the 53kg weight class Jenny Lam broke PWA Junior records in the Snatch, C&J, and Total. Serena Felicity broke the PWA Snatch Record in the 58kg class. Krislyn Li broke the Snatch, C&J, and Total PWA Junior Records in the 63 kg class. Michelle Cai, also a 63kg lifter, broke the previous PWA Junior records in both the Snatch and Total. Last, but not least, Cathy Cai broke the 69kg PWA Junior Records in the Snatch and Total.
Onthe men's side, we were pleased to have Junior World Team member Caleb Ward in the house and he had an outstanding 329kg total, easily winning the +105 weight class. Caleb also won the Outstanding Junior Male Lifter award. Caleb is from Wichita Falls, and along with Chelsea, has been training at California Strength in San Ramon, CA.
Martin Pashov was back for his second Kono and didn't let anyone down by dominating the 105kg weight class. His 203kg in the C&J is a new PWA Senior record. Martin was this year's Outstanding Male Lifter.
Hassle Free-San Francisco won the 1st Place Team award with 41 points, followed by HF-Sacramento with 33 points and The Sports Palace with 18 points.
For a complete list of results go to: http://www.lifttilyadie.com/Results/09TKOpen.htm Kono IV pictures: http://hasslefree.smugmug.com/gallery/9239752_ckMgh#P-1-25 See you next year!
Hassle Free BBC sent 34 athletes to Gainesville, Georgia for the 2009 USA Weightlifting School Age Nationals and walked away with 24 medals and 4 team titles. It was a great time and another outstanding performance from one of the most successful youth weightlifting programs in the country.
Gold - 8 - Akiko Green, Cathy Cai, Jenny Lam, Krislyn Li, Lanisha Redd, Ian Wilson, Sae Vang, and Brandell Sampson
Silver - 10 - Lanisha Smart, Kathy Tran, Michelle Cai, Fahm Saephan, Chioma Amaechi, Harold Davis, Casey Dudley, Chris Tiongson, Kyle Saelee, and Clinton Johnson
Bronze - 6 - Helena Viets, Shanice Hoopi-Sinenci, Joshua Davis, Yandell Hankey, Ian Howerton, and D'Angelo Osorio
Outstanding Male 14/15 lifter - Ian Wilson
Team Titles - Girls 14/15, Girls 16/17, Girls Overall, Boys 16/17
Congratulations to all the Hassle Free Athletes, Coaches, Parents and Supporters for another great National Championship!
For complete results go to: Download 2009_National_School_Age_Results_Web_Corrected
See the over 500 pictures in the Picture Gallery section located in the right column of this website.
Having walked the walk thus far this year by winning the Junior Nationals in a big way, Hassle Free's Donovan Ford had his hands full last weekend as he took on the world's best in Bucharest, Romania. As he prepared for Romania, Donovan was in the best shape of his life, weighing in at a much-improved 102 kilos and he recently hit PRs in the snatch (144 kg) and clean and jerk (182 kg). His 320-kg total from the Junior Nationals puts him 7th on the start list at the Junior World Championships, and he was the only man in the A-session for Team USA.
Not resting on his laurels, Donovan was expecting to improve further on his 320-kg total, with a jump into the top tier of USA Weightlifting to earn an invitation to the Senior World Team Trials in August.
Well Donovan Donovan didn't let anyone down, standing out among his American teammates with a 325 total (142 & 183) and a USA best seventh place finish.
Congratulations Donovan!
For complete Junior World Results go to: Download 2009 Junior World Results
Hassle Free BBC was well represented at the first World Youth Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, both in terms of the number of athletes and performance. USA Weightlifting sent 15 School Age athletes to Thailand and 6 of those athletes were from Hassle Free - Jenny Lam, Krislyn Li, Chioma Amaechi, Sae Vang, Ian Wilson, and Brandell Sampson.
Krislyn Li - Snatch 65 ; C&J 65 ; T 110 ; 21st
373 of the best Youth Weightlifters in the world converged on Thailand in late May representing 48 countries. The competition was tough and the US didn't medal, but there were plenty of PR's and our kids did an outstanding job representing their country and Hassle Free. Ian Wilson and Brandell Sampson both finished eleventh, which turned out to be the best finishes for the American men.
Check out the complete results: Download International Weightlifting Federation_Youth World Results
In a week that has seen some impressive lifting from America's best youth weightlifters in Thailand, the local level of competition has not dropped a beat. Playing respectfully in their first internationals as now legitimate weightlifters, Hassle Free's Sae Vang, Jenny Lam and Krislyn Li all shattered their personal bests at the 1st ever World Youth Championships held this week in Chiang Mai Thailand.
While short six of its best local lifters, Hassle Free still managed to light the fire at this Saturday's Werksan Springfest. Sac High played host to a full men and women's team from East Coast Gold's Moorestown High School along with San Francisco's Lincoln HS and Sacramento's Florin HS. With very tight competition in many weight classes, the Sac High Half of Hassle Free managed to win the overall men's and women's team titles.The prize for the sweep? Fully loaded competition sets for each team that will proudly be added to the ever expanding weight room. The barbell sets were very generously donated by Joe Delago of Werksan Barbells.
Of special note for the women was standout Sac High senior Sydney Munsey, who broke the PWA Junior records in the snatch and total in a 6 for 6 performance that boasted lifts of 73 and 94 for a 167 final tally.
To give you an idea how deep the men's roster is at Sac HIgh, look no further than 77 kilo lifter Kyle Saelee. As if on cue, Kyle hit PWA records in the Jerk and total with lifts of 102 in the Snatch and 132 in the Clean and Jerk for a 234 total. This out distanced the top USA total in Thailand this week. If not for an unfortunate wrist injury, Kyle would have been on his second international exhibition since picking up a barbell just 2 short years ago.
Kyle's counterpart in the 85 kilo class, Clinton Johnson, was most impressive in the Snatch hitting 3 perfect lifts and finishing with 112. Clinton capped off his day with a 130 c+j and close miss at 140 before taking home the gold in the 85s.
Lifting as an extra lifter, London Hopeful Keylin Mackey also knocked off 6 perfect lifts for a much improved total of 277 with 125 in the Snatch and 152 in the Clean and Jerk. This 277 total would have put Keylin on the US Junior World team if only done a few short weeks ago.
For complete Werksan Springfest Results: http://www.lifttilyadie.com/Results/09SpringFest.htm
Hassle Free BBC is proud to be sending Donovan Ford to the Junior World Championships in Bucharest, Romania June-21. Donovan qualified as the #1 ranked 105kg, 20&Under lifter in the country by posting a 320 total at this years USA Junior Championships in Foster City, CA earlier this year. Donovan was 3rd overall on the Junior World rankings and easily qualified for the 8-man team.
The inaugural World Youth Championships are taking place from May 19-24 in Chiang Mai,Thailand and Hassle Free is the most represented club with five under-17 athletes making the US team, three men and two women. The US is sending a total of 20 athletes to Thailand and Hassle Free represents 20% of the team.
Ian Wilson - 85kg - 260kg Qualifying Total
Chioma Amaechi - 69+kg - 154kg Qualifying Total
Sae Vang - 56kg - 184kg Qualifying Total
Jenny Lam - 48kg - 105kg Qualifying Total
Brandell Sampson - 94+kg - 259 Qualifying Total
Congratulations to these great lifters and good luck in Romania and Thailand.
For complete USAW 20&U and 17&U Rankings:
