St. Louis, MO                                                                                     February 2005

MEET DESCRIPTION:

The 2005 Women’s Powerlifting Nationals was a long awaited return to the 3 lift meet stage for Jen. A year and a half earlier Jen had to undergo reconstructive surgery of her knee. She had torn her ACL, MCL, medial and lateral meniscus of her knee, in a wake boarding accident. This injury would require reconstruction of her knee using a cadaver tendon, followed by months of rehab and physical therapy. Unfortunately, just as she got her leg strength back her left shoulder started to fail. An MRI would reveal that she had a ruptured disc in her neck that would require surgery as well. A decision had to be made whether Jen could lift at Nationals. A nerve conduction study was done, which revealed that the nerve to the shoulder and part of the triceps was dead, secondary to the disc compression. The Neurosurgeon explained that the nerve could not be damaged anymore because it was completely dead. Removing the ruptured disc would not repair the nerve; it would just allow another nerve to regenerate in its place over time. He stated that lifting at Nationals would not hurt her anymore, but she would progressively just lose strength in the shoulder until the surgery. Jen decided that she had trained and rehabbed to hard to turn back now and would go to Nationals. Unfortunately, the surgeon was correct, her shoulder strength got a lot worse. By the time Nationals rolled around, Jen was unable to shoulder press a 20lb dumbbell. 

The loss of shoulder strength not withstanding, Jen was ready for the Nationals. Her weight was on target. Her psych was right. She was ready. Squats were first and she opened with an easy 292lbs. She followed that up with 308lbs., and then finished with 330lbs. Jen had gone 3 for 3 in the squats and was only 6 pounds off her personal best. This was as good as could be expected for her first meet back after her knee surgery. Although she had a great squat day she was still in fifth place. Her competition looked to be shaping up to be previous National Champ Jennifer Rey, and Carly Nogle who had moved up from the 123lbs. where she had been 5^th in the World.  

Next would be Jen’s specialty the Bench Press where she hoped to make up ground. Her shoulder strength was lacking, but as long as she stayed in her grove she seemed to not be too affected by it in training. She started conservative with 287lbs. and locked it out easy. It got turned down 2 to1 for uneven extension, which appeared to be a pretty questionable call. She repeated the 287 again and it was the same easy lift with the same bad judging call. At this point the jury was questioned, they didn’t over turn the call but did have a discussion with the judges about the lifts. Forced to have to repeat her opener of 287lbs. for a third time made Jen pretty angry. Seem jammed the weight to the top like it was just the bar, then stood up and glared at the lights waiting for the call. Three white lights, a good lift, now she wanted a forth for the World Record. She followed herself which isn’t easy, and the weight was a whopping 320lbs. It went great off her chest, but she couldn’t quite lock out her left arm due to the lack of shoulder strength. Anything in the low 300’s would have gone easy. Although she had probably given away 20lbs. in the bench, Jen had pulled into a tie for the lead with Nogle.  

It was now going to be a deadlift competition for the title. Nogle had a monster deadlift and it was going to take a bad day by her for Jen to have a chance. As usual Jen opened up lighter than any of the other competitors to get a feel for the competition. It was 303lbs, and it was truly just a warm-up. Nogle opened with 386lbs. and pretty much sewed up the National title. Realizing this Jen wanted to make sure that she had second place locked up. She made a 44lb. jump to 347lbs. and made it look easy, to lock up second. For her third deadlift it was just going to be about how much she could total. A thousand pounds, half a ton, was in reach but it would take a personal best deadlift to do it. It would take another 40lb. jump and a PR by some 10lbs, in her first meet back, but she wanted to go for it. 386lbs. was put on the bar and she went out and hammered it, I think she had a little more in her. She had done it, 1003lb. total, second overall, first in the bench, second in the deadlift, multiple personal bests, and some new State records. It had been a great day overall, and putting off her neck surgery had been worth it. Now for some forced time off.

Special Thanks to Richard Weed and Carol Latta Chromosome Donors

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