Wednesday, July 20, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | Clark sets the bar high in first national meetBy MICHAEL BOYLAN Fayetteville resident Blake Clark, 20, has lifted weights ever since his days of playing high school football for Fayette County High School. Now, a physical education major at Georgia State University, Clark has begun to get a little more serious about his weightlfting and with a gold medal from the recent American Powerlifting Committees National Championships in Athens, it appears others will have to take him more seriously as well. Clark has been trained by Hugh Kirby, an associate pastor at New Hope Baptist Church and former national champion himself, who saw potential in the young man. Clark had been training hard for the meet and, as he said in a recent interview, it paid off. Every lifter in the meet gets three lifts, bench press only. Lifters came in from all over the country for the national championships, but Clark had an idea how to handle the pressure. I just try to compete against my self, said Clark. I dont worry about others I just try to set my best mark. Competing in the 181.5 pound Junior class, ages 20-23, Clark had clean lifts of 319 and 335 pounds with the lift of 335 winning the gld medal and qualifying Clark for the world championships in Dessau, Germany this October. This was the first event that Clark had competed in at this scale and the results surprised him. I expected to compete, but I didnt expect to win, said Clark. Thetraining has started once again and though he hasnt decided whether or not he will make the trip to Germany this fall, he plans on competing in more national events. |
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