[Powerlifting] Wilson sets American Record to highlight Powerlifting Falcons' at USAPL
Lombard, Ill. – Friends University powerlifter Tyler Wilson (SO/Andover, Kan. ) not only captured a national championship at this past week's USAPL Collegiate Nationals, but also set an American record in the 110 Collegiate Raw division with a mark of 805 kg Total. The three-day event featured over 1800 collegiate powerlifters from across the country, the largest USAPL event in history.
"Being told you have to hit your last deadlift to win nationals is the type of stuff that powerlifters dream of at night," said Wilson.
Wilson proved to be the star of the week for the Falcons. Not only did he win a national championship and set a new American record for raw total, but he was also a handler for two other lifters, Hannah (Watkins) and Marcus (Lindley).
"When you have three or four athletes lifting at the same time and only two coaches, you need other experienced lifters to help handle your other athletes in the warm-up room and backstage when they begin to lift," said Friends Powerlifting head coach Joe Belden. "There has to be a high level of trust here as the handler needs to watch the order of the board, determine next attempts and make sure the athlete they are handling stays hydrated."
Wilson wrote the training protocol for Watkins who set personal records in Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift and Total. He also handled her backstage as well as Lindley, who achieved a third place finish.
"Tyler knows Hannah better than anyone so it made sense to have him handle her," said Belden. "Marcus has a great deal of trust in Tyler and they have a close working relationship. When Marcus was lifting, Stephen (Acosta) and Adam (Chesser) we're also competing on different platforms so we needed an additional handler. Tyler was the logical choice."
Overall, the Falcons achieved 38 new personal records, five athletes in the top 10, four in the top five, three All Americans and two national champions in Wilson and Dulce Delacruz (SO/Floresville, Texas).
"This year's national champion felt more special than last year," said Delacruz. "Coming off a hip injury and still hitting the numbers that I wanted felt great."
Lindley achieved a third-place finish, Bailee Passmore (SO/Little Axe, Okla. ) a fourth-place showing and Stephen Acosta (SO/Clovis, N.M.) came in 10th. The Falcon Women were in a three-way tie with LSU and North Texas for fourth-place and it came down to the dots formula for the tie breaker and the Falcons were edged out for a sixth-place finish.
Morgan Worley (SO/Skiatook, Okla. ), Tapanga Morgan (SO/Konawa, Okla. ), Harley Lang (SO/Halstead, Kan. ), Yesenia Arellano (SO/Wichita, Kan. ), Watkins and Paul Herrera (FR/Floresville, Texas) all had top 20 finishes.
"I'm extremely proud of all of our athletes, I love how they performed and how they represented the University," said Belden.
A full breakdown of the Falcons' performance at the USAPL is below.
38 PRs
Five Top 10 finishes
Four Top five finishes
Three All Americans
Two national champions
One American record
Men's sixth-place National Finish
Women's sixth-place National Finish
PRs at Nationals
Paul Herrera S BP DL T
Clement Heck (FR/Mulvane, Kan. ) DL T
Tyler Wilson S BP DL T
Adam Chesser (SO/Wichita, Kan. ) S BP
Stephen Acosta S BP DL T
Marcus Lindley (SO/Goddard, Kan. ) S BP T
Dulce Delacruz DL T
Bailee Passmore S DL T
Bre Sowinski S BP DL T
Josie Fairchild (FR/Kingman, Kan.) BP
Christy Hopfe (FR/Kailua, Hawaii) BP
Hannah Watkins (SO/St. Louis, Mo. ) S BP DL T
Jaz Salas (FR/Goddard, Kan. ) S DL T