The 2025 APO National Championships were held at historic York Barbell June 21/22. Meet Directors were Debbie and Gregg Damminga. This being the first full Nationals that the APO has
held, turnout was less than hoped, but the quality of lifting was superlative. All gear divisions were represented, along with a team of Teens from Donovan High School in New Jersey, and a team of Special Olympians from South Carolina.
York Barbell, the birthplace of weightlifting in the USA, is a fantastic venue to hold a powerlifting meet. Raised platform, auditorium seating, and a full warmup room (the York Barbell Gym) made for a special lifting experience. The APO hopes to make it a home for future National, World, and WPO-Pro events.
The event went off flawlessly. Spotting/loading crew were super-excellent, no misloads, and no bars hit the straps or keepers.
Man multiple National and World records were set. We gave out four “best lifter” awards. Cooper Brooks was the geared best lifter by total coefficient. Richard Bloom was best raw lifter by total coefficient. Valerie Oliveira was best woman lifter with a Glossbrenner coefficient total of 468.3, and Tyler Chambers was best lifter for the Special Olympics division. In addition, Josh Larner had the best men’s Glossbrenner coefficient total at 559.1, with four others over 550. We had one lifter Justin Perez who squatted 903lbs….in briefs only.
There are of course an army of people to thank to be able to pull this off, especially when the meet is not in your home town. Special thanks go to Brian Ericksen who drove the “Big Red” truck from Minneapolis to York and back. The Brooks “get it done” twins Marianne and Des. Anchor gym which provided the majority of spotter/loaders, and Eric Hubbs who provided the T-shirt and award
designs. Mike Mechlan who did all of the AV and announcing, relieving me of a TON of setup and tear down, and Eric Smith the Operations Director at York Barbell who make it so easy to know
what to expect and set up when we got there. And of course my wife Debbie Damminga who keeps me sane when life gets hectic.
Join us there again in November for the WPO World Cup and WPO-Pro powerlifting events!
