SCORESHEET
The 2010 NAHA Nationals are official and 5 Ntl. Champions have been crowned.
Before I get to the events, I have to start off by thanking everyone that was involved. If I do forget someone, I do apologize and thank you more than you can imagine, but I believe I have everyone accounted for.
First off, thanks to all the competitors for putting on a great show. We had competitors from all strength & sports avenues, highland games, strongman, powerlifting, arm wrestling, mma and more. Thanks to my beautiful wife for everything she did throughout the day, the days leading up to the event and just in general. To my business partner, Richard "Vince" Vincent. You did a great job with everything and especially the sponsors. To my judges, what an amazing job they did, Vince, Zack Best, Eric Todd & Conan Wass, for doing all you did all day, you guys kept things running very smoothly. To my loaders and spotters, Chad, Ray & son, Bob, you all did an incredible job and worked your butts off all day. To Bill Purcell, for helping us clean up, setup and unload equipment. To my mother and niece for running the raffle table, shirt sales, etc. To Jesse Jobe & Al Myers for letting me use some of their equipment, to Mindy Capello for being the head scorekeeper. To the American Legion, SAL & Auxiliary, for the use of their facility, providing concessions and everything else they did. To the City of Papillion, for bringing in the cones and bleachers. To Red Bull, for supplying us with a competitor tent, tables and product. To the Papillion Times and PapioVision for media coverage.
And finally, to all the sponsors that helped out with being the title sponsor, buying an event, raffle items or goody bag items, you all did an incredible job. I cannot thank all of you enough as none of this could have happened without you.
And the most important thing of all was that through everyones help, we raised $2,500 for Camp CoHoLo. We are very happy about this, as this is one of our main purposes of putting on the show.
Now on to the contest. It was great to see a lot of familiar faces and a lot of new ones. We had competitors from 8 different states. Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Oregon, Idaho & Wisconsin. I thought all the divisions were very competitive all day. It was a very hot and humid day which did not stop the athletes from putting on some great performances.
Amy Wattles won our first Womens Ntl. title. Amy flew in from Idaho and didn't disappoint with a great performance and winning 5 of 6 events. Newcomer Melissa Johnson(NE) grabbed 2nd with longtime armwrestling champion, Mary McConnaughey(NE) taking 3rd.
The Masters division saw 2009 NAHA Champion John O'Brien(MO) claiming his second title in as many years. He was followed very closely behind by Heath Thiel(WI), who took 2nd, with Larry Kaiser(NE) getting 3rd. Rounding out the division were David Lindstrom(KS), Tim Trumble(NE) and Dan Bunch(NE).
The Lightweight division was won by Corey Kenkel(IA). Corey has really improved his HG skills. Coming down from Wisconsin, was Brian Hyland, who took 2nd, followed by Jesse Jobe(IA) in 3rd. Rounding out the division was Troy Goetsch(NE).
The Middleweight division was once again won by Mark Wechter of Oregon. Mark had another dominating performance and became our 2nd back to back Ntl. Champion. 2nd went to Mac Capello(NE) who made the jump up this year from Lightweight last year and in 3rd was Glenn Melnick of Nebraska. Rounding out the division was Chris Anderson(MO), Shaun Satterfield(NE), Justin Cantwell(MO) and Kyle Nordstrom(IA).
The Heavyweight division saw quite the battle with the outcome being decided by bodyweight. Matt Vincent(LA, 2009 HW Champion) and Charles Kasson(NE) each won 3 events. Using the countback system, they still remained tied so we had to go to bodyweight. Charles Kasson weighed in at 274lbs. with Matt weighing in at 277lbs. Charles got the victory and Ntl. Championship. Scott Tully(KS) brought home 3rd in that division.
There were many performances that were impressive all day but one stood out by far. 10yr. old Megan McConnaughey honored all of us by showing up to the 2010 NAHA Nationals and giving a great speech. Megan is one of the children that goes to Camp CoHoLo and is a serious fight with cancer right now. She told a little of her story and the camp. It was a very humbling experience for all in attendance and really showed how precious life is. A moment I will never forget.
Once again, thanks to everyone involved with this event and we hope to see you next year.