Pro LW Nationals

[Kevin McNease]

1st event medley:

1st: Spybrook
2nd: Porter
3rd: Kaifus
4th: Barabas

[CharlesDMickey]

keep the updates coming!

[DKirby]

Arm Over Arm truck pull Kaifas and Porter tied on, so after 2 events I think its:
1. Kaifas
2. Porter
3. Barabas?
4. Spybrook?: He was closer to the middle of the pack in the arm over arm after winning the 310 farmers, 800 yoke, 700 tire all for 50 feet.

[Lee Horton]

I think Porter is wining by a half point going in to stones.

[Mike Gill]

Arm Over Arm truck pull Kaifas and Porter tied on, so after 2 events I think its:
1. Kaifas
2. Porter
3. Barabas?
4. Spybrook?: He was closer to the middle of the pack in the arm over arm after winning the 310 farmers, 800 yoke, 700 tire all for 50 feet.

Glen Kafis is my training partner.. he's in second by 1/2 a point behind porter.

[Reggie Brown]

Any more updates? How bout the rest of the field?

Thanks,

Reggie

[davebeers]

come on....tell me who won so i can go to bed!

[Kristyn Vytlacil]

come on....tell me who won so i can go to bed!

There are more events tomorrow, so you might as well go to bed now...

[DKirby]

Glen Kafis is my training partner.. he's in second by 1/2 a point behind porter.

Oops, I had him and Porter flipped flopped.

Stone heights were the same as the big boys, 64", 60", 56", 52", and 48", lined up in the same places around the bases. Weights were 280, 305, 330, 350, and 380. 5 guys got all 5 stones. I think Kaifas got 3 (he might have messed up on the 1st one). I know Porter and Spybrook had mess ups on the 1st one (that 280 to 64" gave alot of guys problems) and don't think either of them won it, but both were 2 of the ones who got all 5. As to who's in 1st right now after 3 events, don't know, but I would imagine the top handfull are pretty close.

[Chris Berry]

rick just told me he won stones and porter is leading with freitag in second overall

[Kristyn Vytlacil]

Spybrook just won nationals!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

[Jared Enderton]

sweet, what was the top 5?

[davebeers]

Spybrook just won nationals!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
good, now i can finally go to bed ;)

[Kristyn Vytlacil]

sweet, what was the top 5?

I don't actually know who were in the top 5... sorry dude.

[Paul Neuhaus]

Spybrook just won nationals!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
SWEET! Congrats Jarrod, you're a great guy and very deserving of the title!

[Chris Berry]

congrats to Spy the two time champ and also to rick freitag on his finish

[Dan Harrison]

I was really rooting for my boys Scott and Glenn, but I know they still did great and big congrats to Spybrook.

[Jalaine Ulsh]

final was

spybrook first, kevin nowack second

[rickfreitag]

I'll try to get this right from memory.

1. Spy
2. Nowack
3. Gertz
4. Porter
5. Kaifus
6. Freitag
7. ET
8. Barabas

The others I'm not sure of exactly. My brain is fried.

Details to follow later. But I will say it was a great comp with many hard fought events. The leaders on the score board changed with every event. Spy is the man! He really pulled this one out and deserves a big pat on the back for his win.

[NickBrugal]

Hey Rick great job, thats an impressive finish considering the shape your leg was in. I heard you killed the stones. Also way to go to my boy Barabas, way to out-do me by one place!

[DKirby]

I think one of the best events of the whole weekend to watch was the LW's Hummer DL. The inside collars were moved in a little from where the HWs had Fri night, to take a little sway out of the bar, and the LWs had to stand on a couple of mats, making the pull an inch or 2 less & harder. There was a pretty decent sized crowd by that point, and by the end of the event, was the guy filming the documentary, plus 4 more TV type cameras there- I know one was Fox channel 29. They showed up yesterday after it was already over. I think NBC 10 was there. I heard it was on for about 20 seconds last night on NBC 10. I missed most of the 6 P.M. news, but I'll be watching the local network news later tonight for coverage of it. Hummer DL was last man standing event. Started at 550 lbs, and everyone made the 550 and 600. Then went up to 650, 700, 750. I think 5 guys got all 3 tires on each side, 780, same as the Team USA vs Team World were doing Fri night (I had erroneously typed that as 870, which is what it supposedly was last year at the Philli show with all 3 tires. This year it was different tires and a different bar. The Linden crew had a big scale at the site, and this morning weighed the tires (115 each) and the bar (85). Throw on 5 for the smal collars used today or 10 for the big ones used Fri). Then it was upped to 810, then 850, then 880. All the top LWs really put on a show, esp I think it was Porter & Spybrook, who did 810 and BJ who did 850, and that guy from Sweden, who did 880, and was the overall winner of the contest. Spybrook was 2nd, and has already been said, the top American and gets to represent the U.S. again in China. Congrats to him and Kevin Nowack for making 2nd place and getting the alternate spot.

Adam keep injured his arm pretty badly on the log. Anybody know how he is? When he was stationed in Dover, DE he used to drive an hr+ to train at Iron Sport outside Philli. Over in Germany the only strongman equipment he said he has to train on are are farmer's and a yoke. Pretty good showing by him considering he hasn't touched some of that equipment in ages.

[Barkley]

Just want say congrats to Jared.

[JohnCook]

I thought I had heard BJ took 2nd behind the Swedish dude on the Hummer Tire DL? I'm confused as to why there is a guy from Sweden competing at our Nats......




Anyways, congrats to everyone for showing up and bringing it!!! I can't wait until pictures/video are posted!

[Chris Berry]

same here why was a guy from sweden here. i dont agree with it. its americas 105 nationals. oh well congrats to everyone and i hope adam is ok.

[DKirby]

I thought I had heard BJ took 2nd behind the Swedish dude on the Hummer Tire DL? I'm confused as to why there is a guy from Sweden competing at our Nats......

Anyways, congrats to everyone for showing up and bringing it!!! I can't wait until pictures/video are posted!

Both he and Spybrook got over 800- one did 810, and the other 850.

[Kevin Cronin]

Spybrook just won nationals!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I was the one who told her that :D

-really, really long weekend, but a blast. Good meeting guys from the board/seeing them compete. Met Freitag, Keep and Reynolds, talked with each of them a bit over the weekend. Also saw Barabas and Porter, didnt have a chance to talk with them as much - I was always running around or they were getting set or whatever.

-Farmers-yoke-tire Medley was my favorite lw event, although I kept missing half of it because I had to roll the farmers back for the next guy. And rolling 290 lb farmers back repeatedly is a lot harder than I thought it would be... only spybrook and kaifus finished the medley, i think porter was close.

-I dont know how two guys can manage to tie each other on the truck pull, down to the tenth of a second, but apparently they can

-I was really surprised how many LWs had problems with the stones, but it was being run on the infield of a ballpark, so while some guys said dirt wasnt a factor, others disagreed. The most impressive part of Frietags run wasn't his speed (even tho it was the best) it was how EASY he made them look. Rick just made it look as if every stone could've been heavier and every box higher and he still would've loaded it

-Staying at The Lagoon with the athletes was cool too, everyone had their doors open and were hanging out with each otehr, it felt like a college dorm floor.

- 2 laps (180 ft) with teh 700 conans was good for top 3

- Barabas' pulls are unbelievable. Guy gets crazy psyched up, starts his pull and looks shaky as hell, but just grinds through and once it reaches his knees - POP! Danny Anderson (sp?) is a pulling machine: I have no idea how much he had left in him after he got 870, but I do know that his 870 looked just as smooth as his 550.

-LOTS of guys bombing the log. Porter went from being in first by a half point to dropping to 4th

[Justin Blake]

Big J Spy, You The Man, Congrats

LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING THE VIDS ONCE YOUR IN TOWN...

[Kevin McNease]

K. Cronin,

Thanks for the write-up! How'd Reynolds do?

Kevin

[Reggie Brown]

Congrats to everyone.

Also, congrats to my boy Gertz. Sounds like he had a pretty rough first day and managed to climb back to 3rd.

If anyone has more details, we all would love to hear them! Thanks for the info.

Reggie

[Kurt Hessenbruch]

Yeah, Spy!!!

[benjamin d. moore]

Congrats to my boy ET coming back from injury!

Congrats to Barabas for a fine showing at his first PRO Nats.

And congrats to Spybrook - sounds like he really pulled this one out.

Great job guys. It killed me not being there and talking to you all this weekend. More motivation for me to be in top condition when I get back.

[Derek Poundstone]

This was the first Pro 105K event I've attended and I was very impressed! I missed most of the events on day one as Team USA was competing simultaneously but I did catch most of day 2. On day 1 the medley was unreal, I remember a few short years ago a 300 lb farmers was considered heavy for the heavy weight pros, now the 105 guys are doing it in a medley, WTF!! I was most impressed with to see Ben Lambosis do so well on the Medley. I don’t know where exactly he placed on the event, I think top 5 or 6, but he's been around in the sport for what seems like ever. I figured the medley would be his worst event considering he had 3 surgeries last year alone!! Also, I know Freitag was considering dropping out of the competition several weeks back due to a torn quad but he held it together for the medley!!

The stones were impressive, I learned how not to load stones from Barabas who used his face to try and catch the first stone as he lost his grip while pressing it to the first box!! The first stone was looking easy for him until it slipped on the edge of the 64" box and narrowly missed falling flat atop him! I think he was a bit shaken up as he failed to load the stone on his second and third attempt and looked a little shaky! Glen also had a few close calls but still managed three stones. I believe Porter, Lambosis, Nowack and Freitag were the only 4 to load all five stones. Freitag did it in a lightning fast 38 seconds!!

The deadlifting on day 2 was off the hook. Spybrook set a new personal PR, then PRed on his PR!! Barabas took 2nd with an amazing 850 pull. Porter, being the tall bastard he is, had a few more inches to travel but pulled into the 800's also!! Danny Anderson from Sweden is a pulling machine and probably had 900 in him with the apparatus!

The log press ended up changing a lot of places. I was the counter on one side so I only had a chance to see the guys I was judging. Ben Lambosis looked great as he was up first. He set the number to beat at 2 right off the bat. Several other guys tied for two and Kevin Nowack hit 3, I believe! There were a few zero's, the most surprising being Porter and Freitag. Freitag looked strong throughout the competition and just missed his first attempt with the log. Porter had the same destiny, It was painful to watch both of them struggle with the log as Porter was the American leader leading up to the event and Freitag was in the top 5 I believe.

Great job to all the competitions and Spybrook, I'm sure I left a lot out, I was just reading a few reviews and wanted to put some of my thoughts down before I start unpacking from the trip home!!

Just a side note, both the heavyweight and 105K Pro American Strongman Champions are Cops!! Bad boys, bad boys, watcha gonna do, watcha gonna do when we come for you!!

[rjpe99]

This was the first Pro 105K event I've attended and I was very impressed! I missed most of the events on day one as Team USA was competing simultaneously but I did catch most of day 2. On day 1 the medley was unreal, I remember a few short years ago a 300 lb farmers was considered heavy for the heavy weight pros, now the 105 guys are doing it in a medley, WTF!! I was most impressed with to see Ben Lambosis do so well on the Medley. I don’t know where exactly he placed on the event, I think top 5 or 6, but he's been around in the sport for what seems like ever. I figured the medley would be his worst event considering he had 3 surgeries last year alone!! Also, I know Freitag was considering dropping out of the competition several weeks back due to a torn quad but he held it together for the medley!!

The stones were impressive, I learned how not to load stones from Barabas who used his face to try and catch the first stone as he lost his grip while pressing it to the first box!! The first stone was looking easy for him until it slipped on the edge of the 64" box and narrowly missed falling flat atop him! I think he was a bit shaken up as he failed to load the stone on his second and third attempt and looked a little shaky! Glen also had a few close calls but still managed three stones. I believe Porter, Lambosis, Nowack and Freitag were the only 4 to load all five stones. Freitag did it in a lightning fast 38 seconds!!

The deadlifting on day 2 was off the hook. Spybrook set a new personal PR, then PRed on his PR!! Barabas took 2nd with an amazing 850 pull. Porter, being the tall bastard he is, had a few more inches to travel but pulled into the 800's also!! Danny Anderson from Sweden is a pulling machine and probably had 900 in him with the apparatus!

The log press ended up changing a lot of places. I was the counter on one side so I only had a chance to see the guys I was judging. Ben Lambosis looked great as he was up first. He set the number to beat at 2 right off the bat. Several other guys tied for two and Kevin Nowack hit 3, I believe! There were a few zero's, the most surprising being Porter and Freitag. Freitag looked strong throughout the competition and just missed his first attempt with the log. Porter had the same destiny, It was painful to watch both of them struggle with the log as Porter was the American leader leading up to the event and Freitag was in the top 5 I believe.

Great job to all the competitions and Spybrook, I'm sure I left a lot out, I was just reading a few reviews and wanted to put some of my thoughts down before I start unpacking from the trip home!!

Just a side note, both the heavyweight and 105K Pro American Strongman Champions are Cops!! Bad boys, bad boys, watcha gonna do, watcha gonna do when we come for you!!


Nice write up. It doesn't suprise me that Ben did so good in the stones. I remember at April's show last year - he just had shoulder surgery and he had a sling on. He shouldered a 200lb stone with his free arm - :F:

It sounds like a lot of guys got messed up on the high platform.

Also - what was the weight of the log??

[Derek Poundstone]

Also - what was the weight of the log??
280 lbs I believe

[Jalaine Ulsh]

Told you Kevin Nowack would be up there. ;)

[Adam Keep]

I think one of the best events of the whole weekend to watch was the LW's Hummer DL. The inside collars were moved in a little from where the HWs had Fri night, to take a little sway out of the bar, and the LWs had to stand on a couple of mats, making the pull an inch or 2 less & harder. There was a pretty decent sized crowd by that point, and by the end of the event, was the guy filming the documentary, plus 4 more TV type cameras there- I know one was Fox channel 29. They showed up yesterday after it was already over. I think NBC 10 was there. I heard it was on for about 20 seconds last night on NBC 10. I missed most of the 6 P.M. news, but I'll be watching the local network news later tonight for coverage of it. Hummer DL was last man standing event. Started at 550 lbs, and everyone made the 550 and 600. Then went up to 650, 700, 750. I think 5 guys got all 3 tires on each side, 780, same as the Team USA vs Team World were doing Fri night (I had erroneously typed that as 870, which is what it supposedly was last year at the Philli show with all 3 tires. This year it was different tires and a different bar. The Linden crew had a big scale at the site, and this morning weighed the tires (115 each) and the bar (85). Throw on 5 for the smal collars used today or 10 for the big ones used Fri). Then it was upped to 810, then 850, then 880. All the top LWs really put on a show, esp I think it was Porter & Spybrook, who did 810 and BJ who did 850, and that guy from Sweden, who did 880, and was the overall winner of the contest. Spybrook was 2nd, and has already been said, the top American and gets to represent the U.S. again in China. Congrats to him and Kevin Nowack for making 2nd place and getting the alternate spot.

Adam keep injured his arm pretty badly on the log. Anybody know how he is? When he was stationed in Dover, DE he used to drive an hr+ to train at Iron Sport outside Philli. Over in Germany the only strongman equipment he said he has to train on are are farmer's and a yoke. Pretty good showing by him considering he hasn't touched some of that equipment in ages.


My arm is a lot better. The log bounced and hit me on the metal plate I have in there and I thought it broke. It felt exactly the same as when it broke before so i was really worried. It still hurts now, but I don't think there is much wrong with it so I will take it easy for a bit and then get back into training soon. Thanks for the concern.

[barabas47]

This show was really loaded with competitors.
First, big thanks to the Linden Yard crew and everyone who helped with the set up. It's more appeciated than you can know. That's awesome.

Danny from Sweeden is a top 5 LW in the World. It showed this weekend. True freak with really no weakness. I believe the USA has the biggest turn out for LW pro nats and he wanted to compete before China. He payed his own way and everything. There were 2 seperate scores one with him and without. But he's a freak.

Spy is also a freak. He deserves to be in China for sure.

Porter. After day 1, I was convinced he was going to run away with the show, but he had a bad pick with the conans and never looked steady at all, but still made one hell of a run.

I never knew Spy and Porter could deadlift so well. Props on that.

Freitag on stones is just not fair. We will leave it at that. Nobody even came close.

Reynolds had some bad breaks, he slipped on the truck pull and the driver hit the brakes and that was that. He gutted out a finish, but all times were within a few sec.

Everyone played hard. ET did great the second day on one foot.

There's a reason these guys were there and it showed.

Lastly, props to the HW pros who were there to lend out advice sat night and sunday during the day. A Lot of us took home some good info. Thanks a bunch

[Scott Porter]

I hope to do a contest write-up but here are some thoughts...

I'm obviously very disappointed in myself and frustrated I gave up the lead. Somehow after a horrible showing on conans I still had a 1 pt lead going into the final event, since I managed a 4th place on deadlift in between. I don't know what happened but both conans and log I blacked out, saw stars, and didn't know where I was really. My conans was absolutely horrible and somehow I gutted it out, moving very slow. It felt no heavier than what I've done. Log I felt great in warm-ups, pick off the ground felt light, clean was easy and then boom, didn't know where I was again. Tried to press but no go. Cleaned a couple more times and nothing. Dropped to 4th place.

I guess I've come far in a short time but knowing I was close to my goal hurts. I also feel like I had the strength to win it, despite having a very tough field of guys. I'll have to figure out what the next step is now but rest assured I will be back and stronger than ever before.

It was great meeting every competitor and I had a lot of fun...contest write-up to be done tomorrow at work hopefully.

[Tom Mutaffis]

I was there loading weights / setting up / helping all weekend and was truly impressed with everyone!

Seemed like every athlete was in the mix the entire time and some people really put on a show in certain events. Spybrook got the crowd fired up on the medly screaming through the tire flip, Nowak was consistant as always, Barabas was the top American deadlifter and the only competitor without a suit on, Porter was right there on almost every event, Freitag literally sprinted through the stone series like a maniac, and a lot of guys still managed to get 1-2 on the 280 log after a brutal two days of competing. Danny Anderson... well he proved why he is #5 in the world right now.

Definitely looking forward to seeing all of you compete again, and maybe even having the opportunity to mix it up with you guys in the future.

Congratulations to Jared and everyone who hit PR's throughout the contest!

[rjpe99]

I hope to do a contest write-up but here are some thoughts...

I'm obviously very disappointed in myself and frustrated I gave up the lead. Somehow after a horrible showing on conans I still had a 1 pt lead going into the final event, since I managed a 4th place on deadlift in between. I don't know what happened but both conans and log I blacked out, saw stars, and didn't know where I was really. My conans was absolutely horrible and somehow I gutted it out, moving very slow. It felt no heavier than what I've done. Log I felt great in warm-ups, pick off the ground felt light, clean was easy and then boom, didn't know where I was again. Tried to press but no go. Cleaned a couple more times and nothing. Dropped to 4th place.

I guess I've come far in a short time but knowing I was close to my goal hurts. I also feel like I had the strength to win it, despite having a very tough field of guys. I'll have to figure out what the next step is now but rest assured I will be back and stronger than ever before.

It was great meeting every competitor and I had a lot of fun...contest write-up to be done tomorrow at work hopefully.

Great job Scott! Coming so close now gives you even more motivation to become the strongest 231 on the planet!

[BrentHamm]

Sounds like a great comp. Glad Kevin did as well as he did.

Just curious, how is Danny #5 in the worlds? I think he placed 10th last time there was one.

[Adam Keep]

Sounds like a great comp. Glad Kevin did as well as he did.

Just curious, how is Danny #5 in the worlds? I think he placed 10th last time there was one.

I think what they meant was that he was 5th at one time. He took 8th last time at worlds. He is still super strong though. His girlfriend looked as if she could crush a few of us too.

[BrentHamm]

Yup...i am in idiot..sorry..was counting the numbers on the side of the excel sheet from 05.

Results of that one here 105 worlds 05 (http://americanstrongman.org/images/files/105k%20worldsfinal.xls)

[rickfreitag]

I finally have a chance to write a few thoughts I have from the contest.

First off, I want to thank Linden Yard Crew for their hard work and making this a great contest.

It was awesome having this contest in conjunction with the HW pros. Van, Travis, Derek and Nick are incredible athletes and represent the sport of SM very well. I hope the rest of America will discover these guys for the superstars they are.

The level of competition was huge. Every athlete impressed me at one moment or another. Everyone was there for a reason and it showed.

Spybrook was no doubt the most impressive. Strong and determined. He seemed to be indestructible. When he was down, he found a way back on top. The true mark of a champion.

Nowack's consistency is amazing. Very likely to be the most balanced LW pro.

Gertz is on the rise. Every time I see this guy he gets better. I think Spybrook better be thinking about Gertz for next year.

Porter proved a lot to me. He's more than talk. He's the real deal. Give him a few more years of maturity and consistent training and he'll be almost impossible to beat.

Kaifus I knew would be tough and I was right. When I saw him finish the opening medley, I knew for sure we'd have our hands full with him. He stayed consistent until the log. The wicked log.

ET had a great contest and was a champ for finishing on the injured ankle from day 1.

BJ just needs to learn stones and he'll be in the mix at the top. With a 850 DL likes his, how can a little 280 stone cause so much trouble????

Brengal, Ben L., Keep and Reynolds all had a great contest too and were there to help shake up the standings with solid performances in events.

As far as my performance, I had one shining moment on the stones a couple other good events and some glaring weak points in my game - Yoke, DL and OH. I will go back to drawing boards and see what I can do with my training.

It was great guys. Congrats again to Spybrook and good luck in China.

[Eric Todd]

What a great contest! It was great to see some old friends and to meet some new faces. Now back to the drawing board for hext year!
ET

[mattk]

The Linden Yard Crew would like to say congrats to all the athletes and thanks to all the help as well as the fans. We had an outstanding time helping out at this contest and considered it an honor to work with such high quality athletes. We were all very impressed with the high-caliber talent of the lightweight class and everyone was very pleasant to work with. The heavyweights were tremendously inspiring and encouraging to all the athletes and fans. I just want to thank Buddy, Mike, Tommy, Kevin, Cort, Cam, Kirk, Ox, Steve, Doug, the Cantrell boys and all the others who helped to make this a smooth and efficient contest. Looking forward to next year!!

Matt Keller
Linden Yard Crew

[Wes Richardson]

Damn Scott! I've seen you hit 4 reps in training on the log. Too bad, can't wait to see what you can do next year. See you soon bro.

Wes

[ClayEdgin]

Congratulations to Spybrook and all the pros that competed.

Porter, you were my pick to win the whole thing. You failed me, so I'm casting you out of my top 8 on Myspace. :)