A pair of Fairfield residents competed Saturday in the Natural Athletic Strength Association Illinois Christmas Regional in Flora, putting up two of the highest totals in the powerlifting meet.
Luke Ahlfield and Brian Turner, who both train at Ahlfield’s Midgard Barbell Club garage gym, lifted more than 2,800 combined pounds across three events.
Ahlfield was named the Top Overall Lifter in the unequipped division, which featured 12 lifters. The award is based on a formula that takes total weight lifted and bodyweight into account.
Ahlfield squatted 457.4 pounds (meet used kilogram weights), benched 352.7 pounds and deadlifted 567.5 pounds, totaling 1377.88 pounds. That was good enough to win the Master’s 1 220-pound class and was the third highest total on the day.
Each lifter gets three attempts at each of the three lifts. Ahlfield hit all nine of his attempts. It was Ahlfield’s first time competing in powerlifting, after years of competing in CrossFit, Strongman and Olympic-style weightlifting.
Turner had one of the two totals higher than Ahlfield, while finishing third in the coefficient with a higher body weight. Turner’s squat and deadlift topped out at the exact same weight, 567.7 pounds. He added 303.1 pounds on the bench for a 1,416.46 total. Turner went 8-for-9 on the day, missing his second bench attempt before getting the same weight on his third attempt. Turner won his Masters 1 275-pound weight class. Turner has competed in powerlifting for 30-plus years, with this meet being his first one in two years.
The biggest total of the day belonged to Patrick Northcutt, who totaled 1,438.5 pounds. As the heaviest weightlifter competing, he finished fourth in the coefficient formula.
The meet was held at The Gym in Flora, which hosts two meets a year annually—one in the summer and one just before Christmas.
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