Several of our MN lifters have been busy competing in meets across the U.S. and beyond. Here is short summary of who has been doing what. On November 7, James Vang competed in Las Vegas, NV in the Wild West Showdown. In the raw junior 145.5-lb class, James (who weighed in at 144.2lb) went 7-for-9 and hit the following numbers: SQ-435lb, BP-276lb, DL-540lb, TOT-1251. Upon reviewing the meet results, it appears that James’ Wilks score of 448.95 was the highest among the junior lifters and the second highest among all lifters. James’ squat broke his existing MN state record in the junior and open divisions. On November 21 at the North American Powerlifting Federation (NAPF) Regional Bench Press Championships in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Roger Gehrt competed in the raw 231.5-lb class and went 3-for-3 with a 369lb bench press. This performance earned Roger the gold medal in the master 2 division and a silver medal in the open division (Roger lifted the same amount as the open division winner but lost on bodyweight). Finally, the husband and wife powerlifting duo of Cheryl and Mitch Edelstein competed in the American Open in Boston, MA this past weekend. Cheryl took home the best raw female lifter award (the highest award at a powerlifting meet) by virtue of her first place finish in the raw open 114.6-lb class. Cheryl weighed in at a light 110 pounds and went 6-for-9 with the following numbers: SQ-221lb, BP-154lb, DL-326lb, TOT-701lb, Cheryl’s 326-lb deadlift broke the existing American record in the master 1 division. Two days later, Mitch hit the platform. After some weight cutting (under the guidance of his experienced weight-cutting wife), Mitch weighed in two-tenths of pound under the 205-lb class limit. Mitch took second place (5kg away from first place) in the raw master 2 division and went 8-for-9 via the following lifts: SQ-380lb, BP-254lb, DL-502lb, TOT-1135lb. Congratulations to these MN lifters. Please let the state chair know if other MN lifters have been competing out-of-state so that their performances can be recognized.