1999 National Bench Press Championships

1999 NATIONAL BENCH PRESS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Chicago, IL September 1999

RESULTS:

BENCH: 236.5lbs.

2ND PLACE 132lb WEIGHT CLASS

3RD BEST FEMALE LIFTER

MEET DESCRIPTION:

Jennifer’s second competition was the Bench Press Nationals. This meet was bench press only not full powerlifting. Jen did well but you could tell that she had been losing weight for a while. In addition, the pressure of a national meet in only your second try out was tough. Being in Chicago the coaches had their usual pre-meet powwow. This meeting started earlier then usual at around 1:00 p.m. and lasted till around 3:00 a.m. and ended with a tab of around $350.

The meet started around 10:00 am the next morning which was pretty early for the participants of the coaches meeting the night before. Jen made weight easily and was only around 130 lbs. She opened with a first attempt of 236.5 lbs., which looked easy, but you could tell by her demeanor that she was pretty nervous. Her second attempt was 253.5 lbs., and would have tied the National record, she said it felt very heavy right out of the rack and she couldn’t finish the press. She was very disappointed but after a miss, at the same weight, by the defending National Champ she was back in the meet. Jen tried 253.5 again on her third attempt and it went up easy except there was no pause at the bottom and it didn’t count. Altizer, the defending National Champ, took the same weight and with a struggle was able to finish it to retain her title.

Jennifer was very disappointed by her performance, but with some consoling soon realized that she had taken second place in the Nation in only her second competition. She had also lifted well enough to be the third best female lifter in the meet. Jen’s next disappointment was the fact that most of the participants in the previous night’s activities were too ill to help her celebrate in downtown Chicago the night after the meet.

It was nice to see all the friends and family come and support Jen so far from home and she truly appreciates it.

Special Thanks to Richard Weed and Carol Latta Chromosome Donors