What a weekend! I can’t believe some of the results and how everything shook out. Power and Grace had three different lifters competing this weekend (outside of myself). Ironically all three were 58kg girls, all three come from a Crossfit background, 2 of the 3 were top 15 Crossfit Regional level athletes then turned around and landed top 15 at the Nationals.
First up was Camilla Nolen. Competing in the D session, this was Camilla’s first National level meet of any kind. She qualified by the hair on her head only 6 weeks ago. She worked extremely hard and we peaked her training extremely hard JUST TO GET THERE. Therefore, to even think about her peaking again for the the Nationals we knew was going to be a challenge. And yet she was right there. Camilla’s best Snatch at the competition was 62kg and her best CJ was 74kg totaling her 136kg. Just one kg shy of her all time best total. This was a great learning experience for Camilla and an incredible joy of mine to walk her through her first National meet. I am looking forward to working with her all the way to the podium.
Camilla Nolen 62kg Snatch USAW National Championships 2014 from Power And Grace Performance on Vimeo.
Camilla Nolen 74kg CJ USAW National Championships 2014 from Power And Grace Performance on Vimeo.
Secondly, we had Tristan Erlenbaugh. Some of you may recognize her name from my North Central Regionals posts. Tristan is a North Central Regionals competitor who happens to be really good at weightlifting. Weird. Tristan, for those who didn’t already know, placed second on the HS Walk event at Regionals She finished 12th overall in North Central. At Nationals, Tristan made a massive improvement totaling 163kg with PR’s in both the snatch (74kg) and CJ (89kg). She would finish the competition ranked 11th in the nation. Incredible weekend for Tristan.
Tristan Erlenbaugh 74kg Snatch USAW National Championships 2014 from Power And Grace Performance on Vimeo.
Tristan Erlenbaugh 89kg CJ USAW National Championships 2014 from Power And Grace Performance on Vimeo.
Lastly, our third 58kg lifter was Sarabeth Phillips. Sarabeth is another crossover athlete from Crossfit. She is also a newly signed athlete for the GRID team New York Rhinos. She finished 8th at Regionals with two slip-ups on events 5 and 6. Sarabeth opened with a easy 77kg Snatch then missed 80kg on her second attempt. She would come back and nail 80kg on her third attempt. In the CJ, Sarabeth had a technical error that led to a miss at her opener of 96kg. She came back and nailed it on her second attempt. At this point we knew she was likely in the medals and we were chasing a higher color. Sarabeth stood up from a dead stop of an extremely hard 99kg clean and proceeded to crush the jerk for a HUGE 13kg total meet PR. Thanks to some help from her other competitors, Sarabeth would land second on the podium behind multiple time World Team member Cortney Batchelor. Huge success for SB!
Sarabeth Phillips 80kg Snatch USAW National Championships 2014 from Power And Grace Performance on Vimeo.
Sarabeth Phillips 99kg CJ USAW National Championships 2014 from Power And Grace Performance on Vimeo.
In case you’re wondering if strength makes you a better exerciser then take a look at Tristan and SB.
I personally had a decent day. I did not know what to expect coming into this meet and have some mental holes in my game to repair moving forward but I managed to snatch 123 and CJ 148 for the bronze in the snatch and the bronze overall. I’ll take medals anytime they will give them to me regardless of what it took. I just like the golden kind.
Spencer Arnold 123kg Snatch 2014 USAW Nationals from Power And Grace Performance on Vimeo.
Spencer Arnold 148kg CJ 2014 USAW Nationals from Power And Grace Performance on Vimeo.
While I may have only gotten third in my weight class, I am a part of a men’s select team in training and competition. Texas Barbell is headed up by Level 5 Senior International Coach, Ursula Papandrea. Texas Barbell edged out Muscle D
riverUSA for the overall men’s team victory! Texas Barbell is the Strongest Team in America and now the Premier Men’s Weightlifting Team. What Ursula has done to bring this team together, program for us, get us to big meets, and put us in the position to win championships is nothing short of elite. With no money to support the team, Ursula puts on seminars to fund our hotel rooms at meets. She gives out of her own pocket to put us up and in many cases feed us. She also is the only female coach I have ever trained under that knows how to motivate and prepare men with such precision and poise. Congrats Ursula! And it feels pretty good to be a part of the Nation’s Strongest Team.
Oh and in case you didn’t see it… Caleb Williams decided to do this with 174kg:
Caleb Williams 174 CJ New American Record 2014 USAW Nationals from Power And Grace Performance on Vimeo.
