Denver, Colorado was the scene for this year’s Collegiate Nationals. Jen and Dan Guidreau hosted the meet, which swelled to 248 lifters competing over 3 days. The meet was run well, with only one night going late, and very few platform mishaps. The action started off with Alesha Summers of Texas A/M winning the 97lb class, followed shortly by Cheryl Steiner of the Air Force Academy winning the 105’s, her path to the gold opened by front runner and top seed Maria Pfister’s uncharacteristic bomb on squat.

Air Force kept up the winning by taking home the gold in the 114’s with Diana Wong. She won a close fight with Analese Perovich from West Point. The 123’s saw two seasoned competitors duke it out. Jenna Farek from LSU came down a weight class to score some points for her team, but Katie Van Dusen came to win. Jenna finished 2nd after taking 5 squat attempts due to a mislead and some miscommunication between the officials. Van Dusen won the class with a 407.5 k total, just a bit under her best. She’ll get another chance to up that total at Junior Worlds this September in South Africa.

The 132’s also saw an unforeseen bomb by a top seeded lifter, and Adrianna DaCosta took maximum advantage and had a great meet, winning the class with a 375 total.

The 148’s saw LSU’s Pam Bartz come out swinging. She squatted 418 for a National Collegiate record, benched a meet record, and attempted the National record on deadlift as well. She finished the day with a record setting total of 477.5. Nikki Thomas from Sam Houston was back a bit and Kayrie Spinney from LSU brought home the bronze.

The 165’s battle came down to Liz Aldridge’s last deadlift. She and Air Force’s Brenda Song were scraping at each other with each deadlift attempt. Aldridge won, the move up from the 132’s being a huge sacrifice, but well worth the 12 points (as we shall see later).

The 181’s saw a Collegiate Nationals rookie battle with an older lifter who has worked very hard over the years. Texas A/M’s Tiffany McKenny trailed after the squats, but she opened up a lead with a big bench. La. Tech’s Sandra Sebastian loaded the weight to win, but couldn’t quite lock it out. McKenny wins in her first try.

In the 198’s LSU’s Leigh Arnold wanted to go out with a win, and she did. After 3 good squats, and 3 good benches her 2nd dead gave her a pr total and a 90 kilo win over Brenda Cu from Texas. A 3rd attempt try at 440 was just a bit too heavy today.

The supers was another class where some talented lifters had a rough day. Lana Allen from Nebraska came in and got into trouble benching. Tamara Walter didn’t lift, opting perhaps to save her last year of eligibility for next year’s meet in Baton Rouge…This left Melissa Navarro from La Tech open to win the class and her teammate Ardala Wigman to battle LSU’s Brittney Kean for second. That’s precisely how it ended up: Navarro got the gold, Wigman the silver and Kean the bronze.

For the team titles, LSU locked it up with the 3 first place wins: LSU 61, La Tech 52, and resurgent Texas A/M 43. This will be tight next year in Baton Rouge!!!

The mens’ meet started off with U L Lafayette’s first ever 114, Justin Doan, winning gold for his school. Army scored a silver from Shawn Goodin, then followed with a gold in the 123’s from Dustin Pope.

In the 132’s La Tech’s TJ Taylor crushed the rest of the class by putting up a 602.5 total, up from last year’s 575. Second place was Penn State’s Kevin Sheaffer, followed by another UL Lafayette lifter, Christopher Wright.

UL Lafayette scored another gold in the 148’s. Michael Broussard finished the day with a 605 total, 40 more than 2nd place John Piccione from Army. Eric Calloway from the University of Texas finished a near perfect 8/9 day for the bronze.

The 165’s saw newcomer Makiek Durstine put up some huge numbers…but right on his rear bumper was Mike Houston from La Tech. Mike loaded a huge last attempt deadlift, trying to catch the gold, but it was just way too heavy. Finishing third and All-American in his first Nationals (and 2nd meet ever!) was Reece Verbois from LSU feeder school Baton Rouge Community College. Sam Bennet from UL Lafayette came in 4th, scoring more team points for his team. This was a big class that saw 5 bombs and there were still 16 left at the end!

The 181’s had even more bombs (6) and even more finishers. Traditionally one of the larger classes at Collegiates, the top 3 would have been a barn-burner finish, but with high rank lifter Justin Witte from Texas A/M bombing out, La Tech’s Stephen “Mush” Meche and Andy Odenwald from Saint Louis University would have to duke out the top spots. “Mush” won it with a 747.5 total, followed by Odenwald and Daniel Credeur from LSU. UL Lafayette would get 6 points out of this class, with Mike Melancon finishing 5th out of 20.

The 198’s started off with potentially another high rank lifter bombing…but the controversy was ended by the jury overturning Travis Godawa’s 3rd attempt squat decision, keeping him in the meet. Chance Brady from La Tech was very close behind him, finishing 2.5 kilos behind. On the strength of a huge bench (262.5!!), Trey Jewett from UT San Antonio got the bronze. A tight finish, with 12.5 kilos separating 1st from 3rd.

Another close battle was in the 220’s. Cardyl Trionfonte (KSU) was 2.5 better this day than Blake Elder (JCCC). Trionfonte finished with 727.5. Army rounded out the All-Americans with Stephen Hueckel.

The 242’s had Derek Brixius win hands down with an 807.5, but the next two spots came down to a tie…La Tech’s Tyler Gerfers was a kilo lighter than UL Lafayette’s Kerry Louque, both obviously up from the 220’s after some team points. The two tied at 777.5, Gerfers taking the silver and the 9 points. Army’s John Hackman got 4th over LSU’s newcomer James Stampley.

The winner of the 275’s was Garret Owens from Florida Gulf Coast University, the school’s first National Champion. There were many schools here for the first time, and for this newer program to put up a champion is great for the Collegiate division of USAPL. UL Lafayette, however got the 2nd from Colin White, keeping the Men’s team division title in sight…Lawrence Acosta got 3rd, wresting it from the hands of LSU’s Cody Albright.

The superheavies were won by “Oxx” Bryant from the Virginia Military Institute. He put up a 780 total, defeating Joseph Cappelino from Northeastern University (2nd) and Mike Rogge from UT San Antonio.

The team points were tight. LSU won last year, and another Louisiana school was after the title this year. UL Lafayette, the “Ragin’ Cajuns” who have been grinding it out against LSU and Tech in local meets for years now, came to within one point of winning its first National Championship. La Tech finished with 58 points, Lafayette 57. I suspect this isn’t over…

Finishing strong in 3rd was Army, up 50 to LSU’s 37. LSU lost some of its talent from last year, but they’ll be back…and Army, Texas A/M and all the other schools won’t let the title bob around aimlessly, they’re all aiming to win it next year in Baton Rouge.

Thanks to Jen and Dan for putting on the meet and for the generous donation to the Collegiate Committee Scholarship fund. Three ladies will each receive some money to help pay for their first year of college, and hopefully they’ll continue lifting at whatever university they choose. The winners were: Amelia Schexnayder and Ellie Becnel from Louisiana and Kalin Cooper from Texas. All competed this past season, and each finished top 3 in their respective states.