By MATT DEARMAN

mwd004@latech.edu

 

Four of Tech’s Iron Dawg powerlifting team members traveled to Indiana on Sept. 7 to compete in the five-day, World Junior Powerlifting Championships in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Junior Mike Hafenbrack, senior Josh Chovanec, sophomore David Summers and senior Kimmie Everett all qualified for the meet, and represented both Tech and their country on the 13-person American team, which competed against over 200 lifters from countries such as Russia, Germany, Jamaica, Australia and Japan.

“It was a huge privilege to compete,” Hafenbrack said, “It gave us an opportunity to meet and experience many new cultures for the first time.”

Each of the four Iron Dawgs, who had to finish at the top of their weight classes in national competition in order to qualify, saw success in the meet and finished with 16 medals collectively.

Hafenbrack and Summers each finished with silver medals in the bench press and dead lift competitions and bronzes in the squat, winning Hafenbrack the bronze medal overall in the 123 lb. weight class and Summers the silver in the 114 lb. class.

Everett won silvers in each of the three events to claim the woman’s 165 lb. class overall silver medal, and Chovanec won bronze in squat and dead lift and silver in the bench press to claim the bronze overall in the super heavyweight class.

When not competing, the Iron Dawgs were more than happy to serve as ambassadors during the meet, exchanging apparel and giving equipment to participating countries that were in need of it.

“It was definitely nice to be able to compete in the States,” Everett said, “It was a great opportunity for [our team] and we were very excited to participate. It was fun to meet the lifters from other countries and to trade with them and help them out.”