Kierstyn Davis lifted in the 63 Kgs. class. She was the youngest lifter in for the meet. There are fairly high qualifying totals.  She missed 51, made 51, then made 53 Kgs. in the snatch. In the clean and jerk she did, I think, 62, 65, and then 68. I could be off 1 Kgs. on those c &J. Kierstyn was about 11th in the biggest and best girls' class. She made a very good effort to make the 68 last attempt.

Jenny Sawyer finished 6th in the very tough 63 class. At least 7 lifters in that class had competed internationally, and at least 8 had been to the Olympic Training Center for a camp. At least 4 had been on international teams that I coached.  Jenny made 61, lost 64 behind, then came back and made 64. In the c&j, Jenny did 78, 81, then racked 84 but could not quite stand. This was a 1 Kgs. increase on her total from the Arnold.  It was also a 13 Kgs. increase from her total in Indiana maybe 5-6 weeks ago.  It also qualifies her for the Sr. National Championships the 2nd week in May.

THE BEST NEWS IS THAT THE CHARLESTON WEIGHTLIFTING CLUB NOW HAS A NATIONAL JR. WL CHAMPION, KARI DAVIS. Juniors means you don't turn 21 in the year the meet is held, so, this meet was open to anyone who is 20 or under as of Dec. 31, 2007.  KARI DAVIS,  age 14 (she turns 15 Tuesday) won the National Jr. WL Championships in the over 75 Kgs. class. In a very close competition, Kari made 71, made 74, then missed a close 76. She then opened a little light at 90 & made it, then went to 93 to go into first, then, after her closest opponent missed 95 & 97, Kari tried 98 Kgs. (216 lbs) but missed the clean. She was already the winner at that point. KARI WAS THE YOUNGEST NATIONAL CHAMPION AT THE MEET, I BELIEVE. SHE WON BY 1 KG. OVER 2ND PLACE AND MAYBE 5 OR 6 OVER 3RD.

Kari Davis and Jenny Sawyer both have qualified for the Senior National Championships in the Chicago area the second weekend in May. This meet is the number one meet in the U.S. and has the highest qualifying totals and is open to lifters of all ages. It is unlikely that there will be any lifters any younger than Kari and Jenny at the Senior Nationals.

This meet was the secondary qualifier for the 13-15 Pan American WL Championships which will be held (tentatively) Aug. 14 -18 in Campeche, Mexico. The United States will send 4 girls to this meet. As of right now, the ranking are thus:

 

 Rank     Name                      Club                Class    Total     Q.Total      %

   1.    Kari Davis                Charleston            69+      167       196(?)    86%

   2.    Brianna Barnett        St. Joe, Mo.          58        137       174        79%

   3.    Jenny Sawyer          Charleston            63        145       186        78%

   4.    Samantha Nichols     Wichita Falls, Tex.  63        141(?)   186        76%

 

These 4 will almost certainly end up being the team for Mexico. Even if they don't improve, all they need to do is show up in Springfield, Mo., for the National School Age (17 & under) WL Championships in late June and they should make the team. I could be off 1 - 2 Kgs. on the totals, but these are very close without double checking. The 5th place girl probably is below 70% right now, or barely above it.

 

 All in all, a pretty good weekend.  - Marty