On the morning of July 12th, Sammi Nichols and I hopped on a plane headed to Colorado Springs, Colorado for a memorable experience at the Olympic Training Center. As always, both of us highly anticipated the training camp awaiting us.
Once the old lady who almost killed us (more…)
It is friday evening as I write this, only two more practices to go this week. Many of the kids are getting ready for the Junior Olympics held Aug 1st thru 4th. Everyone is looking very good in the gym. Nieman clean and jerked 32kg and followed it with a 23kg snatch, Kyle Lauck just succeeded with a 60kg clean and jerk, and Blaine Townsend just cleaned 90kg. Overall its been a great week. With 2 more practices to go, I expect a few more big lifts to report by this time tomorrow.
Rose qualified for the National Championships on the 16th of this month with a 60kg snatch and a 77kg clean and jerk. She has recently came very close with a 62kg snatch (caught it and held it, just couldnt balance and stand up) and cleaned 80kg without trying to jerk it. Congragulations to Rose from all of us, I know she has worked a long time for this!
Trey came back to Wichita Falls to visit today. We went and looked at our new facility and he loved it. He plans to come back to train a couple of times a month and is talking about competing again in the near future.
Heres the breakdown on schoolage, how it all went down.
Sammi Nichols, 14-15 year old 58k class… what can you say, Sammi always wins. No best lifter award for her this year (that girl in the 53 class was AWESOME), but she got a big PR total and the gold. Sammi didnt lift quite what she was capable of, but then again she always seems to make 3rd attempts when she needs them, and not make them when she doesnt need them. I could complain, but then its way better this way than missing when you need them, dont you think? She did 57/73 for a 130 total, missing 60 and 76 on thirds, which are lifts she is capable of if pushed. I would like everyone to notice that i finally spelled her name with an “i” instead of “y”. Now if i could just bring myself to admit she is now a teenager…
Dylon Hillard, 14-15 year old 50kg class… He is a stud, a real talent. I feel the same way about him I felt about Sammi and Caleb when they started out. Just that gut feeling that “this kid could be great”… He snatched 55, a big competition PR, but pressed out 57, which would have equalled his best training lift, which was also pressed out as i remember. Dylon has kind of a funny shoulder/elbow setup, he holds the weight well and very secure, but the look of it means he will probably get a lot more 2-1 decisions than 3 white lights. Clean and jerks were magic for Dylon, he had missed 70 in training a bunch of times, but took it here on a second attempt and blew it away, then proceeded to destroy 72k on his third. He just looks really, really good when lifting. I lost count of the number of other coaches who commented on how good he looked and his obvious talent level.
Ricky Nolan, 14-15 year old 56k class… Rick has strong legs, really, really strong legs, which is weird cause they are so skinny!!! His cleans are a joke because of this (by joke i mean EASY) and when he hits the snatch correctly and in good position, his max weights are so easy they look like a warmup. The boy has some jerking problems though. Nothing that cant be overcome, I expect him to be a very good lifter, actually hes already good, but hes going to get much, much better. He made only two attempts here, 50 and 60, I think moving across the country and not training for a couple of weeks before the meet just might have had something to do with that. A solid training cycle and a good meet and 60/70 would go, IMO. He got 5th place. And hes a good chess player, and appreciates a good book. Just had to get that in there somewhere.
Jacob Scott, 16-17 year old 62 class. Jacob has the annoying habit of going on vacation to some godforsaken place for a week or two right before major meets, and this year was no different. He also has the annoying feature of being an extremely talented lifter yet taking part in 29 other sports and 57 various activities that all interfere with the most important thing in life, training for weightlifting. In spite of all this, he made personal records of 77 and 94, missing only one lift, a 96 clean and jerk, and placing 3rd. In addition, Jacob is the funniest human on the planet earth, and makes long trips almost enjoyable.
Jarod ford, 14-15 year old 94kg+ class. Jarod is really just at the beginnings of discovering what kind of an athlete he can be. Hes very strong, and is going to do very well in the future. He did 74 and 96 at this meet, going 4 for 6, which is nothing compared to what he will lift in a year. Lots of potential. 3rd place at this meet. One thing I like about Jarod, hes starting to really respond well to competition… some people make records in meets, some in the gym. Jarod is a meet lifter, chich is a good thing. He also has pretty good taste in music for a teenager.
Caleb Ward, 16-17 94+ class… Caleb is a super-stud. Lots of nagging little injuries before this meet, but he turned it on when it counted. When I watch him lift, I really believe I will coach him in the Olympics one day. I think Caleb has the best technique of any schoolage lifter in the USA, and in private conversation a lot of other coaches have agreed with me. He also has guts and determination and is developing the kind of attitude and persona in competition that allows him to display his best lifts in meets and not in the gym. And he wore a headband at the meet, which is cool in a weird kind of retro/burgener kind of way.
Well, thats it. My meet breakdown done in a big hurry 15 minutes before I leave for the airport to go to Quebec with Mary. Hope you all liked it.
Mary McGregor took the gold medal in the 2006 Pan-Am masters competition in Montreal, Canada on July 1st. Mary went 6 for 6 with winning lifts of 40kg snatch and 56kg clean and jerk in the 55-59 year old 75kg+ class. Mary will compete again in France at the World Masters in August.
