Hassle Free BBC

Hassle Free Heats Up at 2010 USAW Junior Championships in Rochester, MN

Hassle Free BBC purposely sent fewer lifters to this years USAW Junior Championships in Rochester, MN, but despite lower numbers the results were outstanding. The HF men and women reversed their team positions from last year with the Women earning 1st place honors after a narrow loss last year and the men took second this year, equal on team points, but losing the tie-breaker.

Jenny Lam got things started with a Silver in the women's 48kg class. The 17-year old Lam-inator was 6 for 6 with a 49kg Snatch, 70kg C&J, for a 119kg total. She missed Gold by 5kg against her 19 year-old competitor.  

Next up for HF was Kathy Tran (53kg class). Kathy was competing in her first Junior National event and was among the two youngest lifters, competing against girls 3-4 years older. She did a great job with a 107kg total and a 5th place finish.

 

Hassle Free had 2 lifters in the 58kg women's class, both competing for the first time in a National Junior Championship. First up was Serena Felicity, going 6 for 6, winning silver. Serena finished with an outstanding 128kg total. 

Also competing in the 58kg class was Karine Tran. Karine continues to improve and in her first National Junior event posted a 117kg total and finished in 4th place.

Next up for the HF women was Choima Amaechi. Choioma had a battle on her hands going into the C&J 6kg down. But Choima is a fighter and came back with a PR Snatch of 122kg to win the Gold by 1kg. For a blow-by-blow description of Choima's amazing fight for gold read Paul Doherty's article on IronMind:

http://ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2010/Mar/New_USA_Junior_Weightlifting_Star-Chioma_Amechi.html

The HF men were led by Donovan Ford. Donovan, now training at the Olympic Training Center,successfully defended his 2009 National Junior title with a total lift of 320kg in the 105kg division.  Ford's results were within five kilograms of the marks he posted to place sixth at the 2009 Junior World Championships. 

Last but not least for HF were Chris Tiongson, recently moved up to the 62kg class and D'Angelo Osario in the 85kg class. Chris finished with a 166kg total and a 9th place finish. D'angelo had an outstanding meet with PR Total of 243kg and fith place finish in a very competitive weight class.

 
 

  

For Complete 2010 USAW Junior National results:

http://www.lifttilyadie.com/Results/10NatJrs.htm

PWA Championships see some big lifts

It's been a busy few months in Northern California Weightlifting with three local meets at Sacramento High School kicking off the 2010 Weightlifting season. On January 16, Hassle Free hosted the Sac High Open 1, an unsanctioned meet focused primarily on junior lifters. We had 46 lifters, many competing for the very first time. It was a fun, low key event, but provided a good jump start for the season. The Sac High Open 2, another unsanctioned junior meet took place on Feb. 13. Again with a focus on giving young lifters competitive experience, we saw 45 young athletes turn out.

The big event in January was the PWA Championships, hosted by HF-Sac for the second straight year. Our focus this year was on Senior and Master lifters. While we had a some big lifts from great lifters the numbers were down this year with only 53 competitors. Despite the low numbers, a good time was had by all and everything ran right on time, which is unusual for a weightlifting meet.

Outstanding Female Lifter was Kristen Newman from Golden Bear Weightlifting. Kristen competes in the 75kg class and had a 72kg Snatch, 98kg C&J, for a 170 total. The C&J and Total are PWA records.

 

Outstanding Male Lifter was Jonathan North. Jon brought his usual brand of excitement with PWA records in the Snatch (150kg), C&J (176kg), and Total (326kg).

Outstanding Junior Female Lifter was Junior World team member Chioma Amaechi competing in the +75kg class. Chioma continues to shatter PWA records with a Junior record Snatch of 80kg, Senior and Junior record C&J of 113kg, and Senior and Junior record Total of 193kg.

Outstanding Male Junior lifter was Junior World Team member Caleb Ward. Caleb competes in the +105kg class. Caleb broke his own Junior records in the Snatch (156kg), C&J (192kg), and Total (348kg).

Also notable were Sarena Felicity with Gold in the 58kg class and PWA Junior records in the C&J (75kg) and Total (127kg). 53kg lifter Anne Lehman broke National Master records in the Snatch (46kg), C&J (58kg), and Total (104kg).

Congratulations to all the lifters!

Complete 2010 PWA Championship Results - http://www.lifttilyadie.com/Results/10PWAChp.htm

Pictures - 2010 PWA  - http://gallery.me.com/jimschmitz#100138&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=211