It was a memorable day for the Takano Weightlifting team at last Saturday’s Winter Classic in Newport Beach CA. This was the largest edition of the team ever with 12 athletes, 3 of them appearing in their first meet. The result was that all 12 of them set at least 1 official PR, and several of them registered 3. I tinkered with the programming in the Pre-Competition mesocycle and altered a few aspects and the results were exceptional.
Our first competitor was Amanda Frick who was lifting in her first meet. She was out of town for two weeks during the winter holidays and her training circumstances were not ideal. She wasn’t sure if she should have lifted, but I persuaded her to do it for the experience. It turned out to be a good call as she went 6 for 6 and outlifted all of her training bests.
Annemarie Munn had lifted previously for Max’s Gym but was in her first event as a member of our team. She lifted 59 and 73 for a 132 total. All were PR’s.
Amanda Counts had been battling some nagging injuries for a while and was in her first competition in several months. Although she only made 1 snatch and 1 clean & jerk, the snatch and total were PR’s.
Morgan White is a Master lifter, but still managed to set all time PR’s in the snatch and total. Her 131 moved her into Class 1 status.
Lindsay Dill had trained well for this event and had a 2 kilo PR in the snatch and a 3 kilo PR in the clean & jerk. Her 77-90-167 results were club records in the 90 kg class.
Jade Princess had a stellar day lifting in the 63 kg class. She had a good cycle running up to the event and went 5 for 6 finishing with a 6 kg pr of 73 in the snatch and a 5 kg PR of 89 in the clean & jerk. She demonstrated great aplomb in her lifting manner on the platform.
Graham Nesas had lifted in a meet a couple of years ago so this was a comeback of sorts. He only made his opening snatch of 79, but cleaned and jerked a PR of 104.
Lionel Bravo was lifting in his first meet and couldn’t manage a successful snatch, but came through with two good clean & jerks for a PR with 109. He displayed a fighting spirit to finish strongly.
Ben Quachtran was coming off a bad meet in November so achieved some redeption by snatching a 4 kg PR and jerking a 5 kg PR.
Jeffrey Suarez lifted in the 69 kg class and showed his stuff by going 5 for 6. His 89 kg snatch and 120 clean & jerk were PR’s as was his total. Great lifting, Jeff!
Brian Dong and Ben Hinkle shined in the final session. Brian snatched 101 to obliterate his 88 previous competition best and then jerked 127, a PR by 12 kg. Ben snatched 105 to tie his PR, and then jerked 127 for a 7 kg PR.
All of these fine performances were the result of the proper grooming of the group psychology toward competition. Everyone was looking forward to this meet and the results show that this preparation was especially effective, both from the physical and psychological perspectives. Great job, Team!