American Open recap

Alight, I think I've finally unwound enough from last weekend to get to this. Despite all efforts of the weather to get in our way (I think we had 3 or 4 cancelled flights and as many different itineraries due to the ice in Dallas), Industrious Barbell took Steph to the American Open last weekend in Dallas, Texas. This was Steph's second national-level meet (she lifted at the National Championship earlier this year, recap here). For those of you new to the sport, these are meets for which lifters must make a minimum qualifying weight in a prior meet to even be allowed to compete in, so even just making it to one of these is a big accomplishment. Steph went 3 for 6 at the meet, making her second two snatches at 60 and 63 and her opening clean and jerk at 70 and finishing with a 133 total: a solid day on such a big stage.

Steph's entry total (141) originally put her into the "A" session, but because there were so many participants they ended up adding a bunch more sessions to try to make room for everyone. In fact, this ended up being the largest meet in USAW history, and people were saying that it was the largest meet in the world in 2013! The numbers that I saw had 280 competitors at last year's American Open (which Molly competed at, recap here), and some 460 competitors this year! That an increase of 64% over last year. It was standing-room-only for most of the sessions on Saturday and Sunday, which is awesome. The sport is definitely growing in the US! It was pretty crazy with all the people there, but for the most part the event organizers did a great job pulling it off, so hats off to them.

All in all, despite the weather and travel mishaps, it was a great meet and a great experience, and I am excited to get back in the gym and take more lifters next year!