First place winners with Derek Poundstone (middle) L to R Andrew Czaczkowski, Chase Wiley, Brett Somerville & Johnny Wasiczko

DO YOU HAVE THE STONES FOR IT

January 24, 2009

It was a good day for a battle.

MAX AXLE

Light weights <200 started out with Chase Wiley hitting a 240 in the max axle for the win in that class with Andrew Babcock and Rob Agnoli tying with 220.

It was a real fight for dominance in the 231's with Jeff Holt, Andrew Czaczkowski and Cory Clark all pressing 300, so Matt Keller suggests we let them have a tie breaker with 310, sounded good to me, and Cory was the one to make the lift for the event win.

In the 265's, Johnny Wasiczko & Mike Beyers did 280 so Mike exceeded the official NAS HW Masters Record by 10 lbs, but it was Kevin Cronin who rocked the max axle by hitting 310 on his second attempt for the event win, but he wasn't satisfied with that so he finished with a huge 325.

In the heavy opens Bud Schweder also beat the HW Masters Record with 290, placing third in the event. Brett Somerville took second with 320, but it was Justin Czapliki who walked away with the win with a 330 clean & press.

Derek Poundstone got the crowd going by warming up with some double overhand axle clean and presses with 300 and 330, then hitting 365 for 3 full clean and presses, and then going to 400 and cleaning it once and hitting a triple.

PIPE CARRY

In the pipe carry, it was Chase again leading the pack by being the only <200 to finish the carry.

In the 231's it was a tight race, the three fastest within 2 seconds of each other, Andrew Czaczkowski, Nick Horowski, Cory Eger and the top seven all finishing within 6 seconds of each other.

The 265's were flying with these pipes with Johnny Wasiczko just edging out Kevin Cronin for the win.

In the Heavies it was Shane Romano, Brett Somerville and first time competitor, Chris Poulopoulos, moving the fastest with the pipes

TIRE FLIP

All three <200's got stuck on the 5^th tire but it was Andrew Babcock who flipped the 4^th tire the fastest for the win.

There were some fast times in the 231's up to the 5^th tire, led by Andrew Czaczkowski, Steve Engles and Craig Pfisterer , but all were stopped by the 6^th tire.

In the 265's the top three had good times to the 5^th tire, Kevin Cronin, Mike Beyers and Johnny Wasiczko, and even though Kevin lifted the tire above his knees he couldn't get it over.

In the heavy class there were also fast times to the fifth tire. Shane Romano, Brett Sommerville and Bud Schweder. Brett came very close to flipping the 6^th, but it was not going to be flipped today.

KEG CARRY / SLED DRAG

In the <200's Rob Agnoli was the closest to finishing the sled drag running out of time 2 inches shy of the finish line for the event win.

In the 231's it was Andrew Czaczkowski narrowly edging out Jeff Holt followed by Cory Eger.

In the 265's it was tight throughout the class with Johnny Wasiczko leading followed by Mike Beyers and Kevin Cronin.

In the Heavies it was even closer, led by Justin Czaplicki then Brett Sommerville and Bud Schweder.

STONES

In the <200's placing was determined by who loaded the 250lb stone the fastest, it was Chase Wiley.

In the 231's the top three loaded the 5^th 330lb stone, Craig Pfisterer for the win closely followed by Jeff Holt and then Cory Clark.

In the 265's one competitor, Johnny Wasiczko, loaded the last of the seven stone series, 405lbs with a half second to spare, followed by Kevin Cronin and Mike Beyers.

In the heavies Brett Sommerville set a blistering pace loading the first six stones in 24 seconds and burned himself out so he didn't get the last one, but it was enough for an event win followed by Bud Schweder and Justin Czaplicki.

OVERALL

With three event wins Chase Wiley took first in the 200's followed by Rob Agnoli and Andrew Babcock.

The 231 class was stacked with 12 competitors, but with three event wins it was Andrew Czaczkowski who came out on top with Jeff Holt taking second and Steve Engles in third edging out Craig Pfisterer by half a point.

In the 265's it was Johnny Wasiczko with three event wins taking first and Kevin Cronin with a solid performance a half a point behind in second, with Mike Beyers, a Master, in third.

In the heavies it was Mr. Consistency, Brett Sommerville, with four second place and one first event placing to take the overall win while Justin Czaplicki came in second and Bud Schweder, a master, was in third.

OTHER STUFF

It was a grueling contest for all the athletes, but they came to compete and it was a good test of mental and physical strength for the competitors and it was an exciting and wild event for the spectators.

My thanks to the helpers that loaded and reset the implements, Brian, Ant, Zack and Mike, the girls that sold the food and shirts, Jessica and Kay, Hank the grill master, Lou and Little G for keeping time and score on the events, Tammy who tallied up the scores, Joe Farino for helping get the event going in the morning and also loaning me some of the equipment to use, Matt Keller for helping judge/score/run the events and help both me and Tammy figure out the scoring, my girlfriend and best friend Loni Jo for helping me put on this show, Aunt Patty for doing the flyers, brochures, sponsor mailings and everything else, everybody else that helped the day of the show and leading up to the show, the sponsors that donated money or product for the show, Derek Poundstone, HW Pro for coming out to support the show and bringing MHP product for prizes, and last but not least thanks to the competitors who came out and made this show and helped me to introduce the sport of Strongman to Coxsackie, NY.

Curtis Lake