Most of the training and tapering for the 2009 AO is detailed in the training log. The last day of training, Friday, was generally light but varied with the person according to their level of recovery and the day they competed. Of the 5 lifters (Sandra, Jo Anne, Jon, Donny, and Caleb) I coached 4 and will concentrate on them, Max can comment on Sandra who was coached by him.
Jo Anne (53kg) had a pretty good training cycle for snatches leading up to this meet, consistently snatching 65 kilos in her 3 heavy training sessions per week the last couple of weeks, and making a PR of 67 several weeks out. She opened at 61, made a nice and smooth lift, then missed 64 twice, both times the pull was high enough, but the catch just wasnt there. Although she was definately aiming for a medal performance going in, this put her behind the 8 ball going into the clean and jerks, needing misses from other competitors and a 3 for 3 performance for herself for much of a chance at a medal. Her opener clean and jerk of 78 was missed on the clean, rare for her. She then made 78 on her second, and 81 on her third, giving her a PR competition clean and jerk and a PR competition total, and 4th place. There was some disapointment that she didnt total a little higher, expecially given that she obviously had more in her in the snatch, but its hard to be too disapointed in a PR total at a national meet.
Jon North lifted at 94kg, and we felt going in based on knowing most of the other lifters and looking at the qualifying totals that he would be fighting for 1st or 2nd. He opened at 138 in the snatch, and made it strongly. His second at 143 also looked like a strong lift, and was even announced by Mike Gattone (the meet announcer) as a good lift, but, unexpectedly it was turned down 2 to 1. We jumped to 145 on the third to avoid having to follow ourselves with a one minute clock (another lifter was called then immedietly changed his attempt, so we didnt get a two minute clock) and Jon missed this one out front. “Big Phil” from ECG had a great day snatching, ending with 150, so at this point, it looked like a win was unlikely. Jon was very strong on the clean and jerk, and was opening heavier than Phil, so in the back of my mind I was thinking that on the third attempt, we could just put the winning weight on the bar and let Jon go for it… but even that was not to be. Jon missed his opener at 170…. forcing 172 and 176 second and third attempts to secure the silver medal. It is unfortunate that we ran out of attempts, i would have liked to see Jon try 185 for the win on his third. This was not that unrealistic, as Jon had made 182 in the clean in training, narrowly missing the jerk, and looked stronger than I have ever seen him on meet day. Next time.
Donny Shankle competed at 105kg, and, though he won the gold and was really not challenged, did not have a great meet. It took him 3 trys to get his 155kg opener snatch, then a miss on his second attempt at 195kg in the clean and jerk forced us to retake that for a success, and not try the 202 or 205 that I had wanted to see him try. Donny did turn in a good enough performance to put him in a solid 4th place on the Pan-Am team, so that is a positive thing, he will be able to improve at the primary qualifier then hopefully have his BEST meet at Pan-Ams!
Caleb Ward was in a dogfight with Zack Schluender at superheavweight. Caleb hit an easy 152 opener in the snatch, then snatched what looked like an easy 157 on his second, only to lose it behind him standing up. Caleb made good on this lift on his third, and Zack and Caleb were tied with 157 going in to the clean and jerk. We opened heavier than Zack on the clean and jerk with a solid 190, and Caleb looked so strong I thought we were going to run away with it. But a missed jerk on a second attempt of 195 (Caleb says he let his air out at the bottom of the dip and drive) forced us to retake 195 for a solid success… unfortunately at this point we were out of attempts and this allowed Zack to take 198 for the win. Congragulations to Zack… see you at the primary qualifier!
