Mississippi Powerlifting Club
Official Team Site
MS PL CLUB
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First of all, Welcome to the Official Webpage of the Mississippi Powerlifting Club, I would encourage you to sign our guestbook. We are the first team of our kind in the state of Mississippi, prior to this, lifters in MHSAA had no choice for lifting post-high school unless they were recruitted by one of the local schools that powerlifting (nearest of course being LATech, ULL and LSU). Most questions can be answered on our "How do I join page?" so please look there and the question can't be answered, feel free to e-mail me at coachbattenfield@yahoo.com.
In 2006, the team made its first trip to a national contest in Oklahoma City, placing 3rd in the AAU Nationals, before realizing that there is no comparision to the USAPL. We rounded out 2006 by getting 5 members qualified for 2007's Teen/Jr Nationals.
In 2007, we finished out a team roster for teen/jr nationals getting members qualified at the Brother Bennett and Peak Fitness Closed meets. From there a team of ten lifters made the trip to Kalamazoo, MI where we won 4 weight classes (Chris Tran, Knute Douglas, Chris Skinner and Justin Walker), took 2 2nd's (Ryan Savell, Chris White), 2 3rd's (Antonio Hayes, Ty Westbrook) and most importantly a national championship in the combo division. We finished the year up with stops at the MS State Meet, Tiger Open and University Cup.
In 2008, the team's growth hit it's highest point. We began the year with a trip to the Arnold Classic in Columbus, OH where Ryan Savell and Justin Walker both competed. We hosted the 1st MSPLClub Open, the largest USAPL Meet in MS in 5 years to round out the roster. We took 2 full teams to Killeen, TX for Teen/JR Nationals and came away with a 2nd in the teen and combo division.. two national champions (Knute Douglas, Justin Walker), ten runner-ups (Ivan Gray, Garth Sullivan, Jessie Griffith, Tavelle Marion, Chris Skinner, Pat Sutton, Johnny Griffin, Chris Nelson, Denzel Scott and Ty Westbrook), six bronze medalists (Chris Tran, Antwon Shoto, Callon Green, Miles Forks, Jackie Leggett, and Dink Lumley) and three fourth place medalists (Eric Renfrow, Ryan Savell, and Keshun Watson). Portions of the team also lifted at the Mississippi State Meet and will lift at the University Cup in November. We had two members make the SubJr and Jr World team respectively, making our international debut was Pat Sutton taking second at SubJr World's with a silver in squat and bench and Justin Walker taking fourth at Jr World's with a bronze in the deadlift. Coach Jim Battenfield was also appointed new chairman of USAPL Mississippi in March of 2008.
In 2009, We had a few lifters lift at the LA State Meet in Lafayette, then on to Collegiate Nationals. At the collegiate Nationals, Chris Tran and Justin Walker both won Collegiate titles, Knute Douglas placed 2nd, Chris Skinner placed 3rd, Ryan Savell and Chris Bridges also lifted. Then after qualifying a few new members at the Brother Bennett Memorial Meet in April, we took a team to the USAPL Teen, JR and Open Nationals in Denver, CO. This weekend was the closest to a perfect weekend I've ever had in powerlifting. Our entries took 7 1st's (2 of them taking first twice, for a total of 9), Chris Tran won the 56 kilo Men's Open and Junior Division on the last pull, break the national meet record in the JR division in the squat and total. Garth Sullivan, Curtis Spencer, Knute Douglas, and Jon Krogman won their age divisions. Justin Walker won the 90 kilo Men's Open and Junior division on the last pull. Pat Sutton broke the American total record by 72 pounds, to win his 1st national title. Eric Renfrow, Zack Goins, Tavelle Marion and Dink Lumley all placed 2nd in their age groups. Miles Forks and Denzel Scott placed third in their age groups. The team won the 2009 Teen/Junior Team Championship, our 2nd title in 3 years. In addition to this, we were awarded the right to host the 2011 Men's Teen, Junior and Open Nationals as well as the 2011 American Open in Bay St Louis, MS. We were also pleased to watch our mentor, Jeff Douglas, win the Men's Open National title as well, so congrats to Jeff!! We rounded out the year with the MS State Championships in July and the Region VI Championships in December, both hosted in Philadelphia. Members Chris Tran, Knute Douglas and Justin Walker also went to the IPF Junior Worlds in Brazil, Chris finished 2nd in 56 kg and won a gold in the deadlift, Knute and Justin placed 5th overall in 82.5 and 90 kg respectively.
In 2010, we had lifters at the Brother Bennett, the MS State Championships, and will have lifters at the Region VI Championships, in addition to the Men's Nationals in Palm Springs, CA. At Men's Nationals in Palm Springs, Chris Tran won the Junior division and the Men's Open title for the 2nd consecutive year breaking the national meet records in Squat, Deadlift and Total along the way. Curtis Spencer and Norman Handy both battled to 2nd places in there weight class and age groups, Curtis even took a shot at a SubJr World Record for the win. Knute Douglas broke his own American record squat while battling to a 2nd place finish in both JR and Open division, in a highly contested 75kg class. Justin Walker lifted to a 9/9 27 white light day to end his "point scoring" career as a member of MSPLClub en route to not only a 2nd straight Men's Open title, but a 4th straight, possibly unprecedented JR title...Justin won the JR championship every year he was eligible (20, 21, 22, & 23)...definetly won't be the same without ya on the roster JW. Zack Goins was unfourtanetly unable to get a bench in. Pat Sutton won a 2nd straight Teen Title, and broke the American squat and total record in the 100kg T3 class. Dink Lumley also won his first teen title with a PR total in only his 3rd year of powerlifting. MSPLClub also won the National Title in the Combo Division for the 3rd time in 4 years and back to back years.
