Meet Report: 2016 American Open
CHFP Weightlifting brought 8 athletes to the 2016 American Open. This year's event was held on December 8-11at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, FL.
Youth athlete Cole Bramble (94 kg) got things started on Thursday evening as part of the Youth/Junior session. Cole completed a flawless 6/6 performance to earn personal bests in the snatch (117-120-123), clean & jerk (143-147-150) and total (273).
The team had a full schedule on Friday with four lifters competing from the first session at 9:00 am to the last session at 9:00 pm. First up was Lucy Nguyen (48 kg). Lucy put on a spectacular, gutty performance at her first AO. Lucy began with three perfect snatches to land a personal best of 53 kg. She had to replace her opening 70 kg CJ to the platform after nearly passing out after the clean. Lucy then came back to crush it on her second attempt and tied her personal best on her third with 73 kg. Overall, a 5/6 performance and a PR total of 126.
Emily Baskin (53 kg) had two goals coming into her first AO. Competition PRs for the snatch and clean and jerk, and securing a qualifying total for the 2017 National Championships. Spoiler alert. Done and done! Emily nailed personal bests in the snatch (63 kg) and CJ (86 kg). Overall, a 4/6 day that added 4 kg to her best competition total and secured her qualification to Nationals.
To close out an incredible year of collecting medals around the world as part of the Masters "Grand Slam", newly appointed Asst. Head Coach John Bova (69 kg) competed in his second consecutive AO. John finished strong on 4/6 lifting to post a 216 total on what is likely to be his swan song as a 69 kg competitor.
Joe Mackie (77 kg) put in a solid effort at this year's American Open. Joe endured a tremendously long session (2.5+ hours) but he responded like a veteran and gave perhaps the gutsiest effort of our team on his final CJ attempt. Considering the hour (minutes before midnight), it would have been completely understandable to play it safe, get an easy make and finish with a solid total on a 5/6 performance. But Joe was adamant about going with nothing less than 150 kg- tying his competition PRs in the CJ and for the total. Although he missed on the jerk, Joe left no doubt that he leaves it all on the platform.
Wow, what a difference a year makes. At last year's AO, Nick Bailey (85 kg) posted a 239 kg total. Returning in the same 85 kg class, Nick increased his AO total by 26 kg with a best snatch at 113 kg and a best CJ at 152 kg for a 265 total. Great progress and more to come!
On the final day of the 2016 American Open, Bobby Ieradi (94 kg) added to the team's string of PRs by nailing a personal best 156 kg in the clean & jerk. Combined with a 125 kg snatch, Bobby posted a solid 281 kg total in his first AO appearance.
With her national and international credentials, Samantha Poeth (75 kg) has earned the privilege to utilize national-level competitions for her benefit. To give up the immediate reward for the long term gain. The goal for this American Open was to test, in competition, some of the technical refinements that Sam has been working on in training over the last few months. Making lifts would be priority, comp PRs and perhaps even a podium finish secondary. The result? A near perfect 5/6 performance, a best snatch of 89 kg, a silver medal in the CJ (115 kg) and bronze for the total (204 kg). In short, mission accomplished.
Overall, our CHFP Weightlifting team did very well, successful on 35/48 attempts (73%), collecting kilos on 10 PRs, no bombouts, and Samantha Poeth locking down two medals. A great way to close out 2016!!
