KeepOurTanker.com American Open Day 2 Results

(Mobile, Ala.) - Sometimes it takes time away from something you love to realize what it means to you.  Or so it seemed for two-time Olympian Chad Vaughn (Florence, Texas) who spent more than a year away from major competition after the Beijing Olympic Games.  

Vaughn looked like no time passed at all when he won his third title at the KeepOurTanker.com American Open in Mobile on Saturday. 

Vaughn's lifts totaled 317kg in his 77kg division - just five kilograms away from his results at the 2008 Pan American Championships and 27kg ahead of silver medalist Mike Cerbus (Cortland, Ohio). 

"I love weightlifting and I really have learned in this past year how much I've taken it for granted before and I just feel fortunate that I'm able to continue doing what I do and that I've even gotten back to the level that I'm at right now," said Vaughn who is now the father of a three-month-old daughter. "It's been an adjustment because up until Beijing and the 10 years before that it was all about weightlifting and, with the new baby, it's not the #1 priority anymore."

While some would say that not focusing 100% of your efforts on training would be detrimental in sports, Vaughn said his life as a father has been beneficial for his lifting.

"My whole career I've been too hard on myself and I've probably pushed too hard to the point where I probably push myself backwards sometimes," Vaughn said.  "I got married at the end of 2005 and I thought it was a good kind of distraction because it helped me take a little bit of that away and it helped me raise back up a little bit and it's been even more so when we had that baby."

Although Vaughn is enjoying being back on the platform, he said his focus is on enjoying the sport he loves and not on the 2012 Olympic Games.

"I would love to be able to go to London, but I'm just trying to be patient and make it one day at a time of training and one competition at a time," Vaughn said.

Erin Wallace (Shreveport, La.) led the 75kg division from start to finish, winning the gold medal with a total of 211kg, beating her previous best result by 10kg and being one of five athletes to complete all six of her lift attempts during the day.

"I'm pretty excited.  Six-for-six, can't really complain about that.  This was a 10 kilo PR total for me so it was a good meet," said the first-time KeepOurTanker.com American Open Champion.  "Anything over 209 I would have been happy with, but I try not to think about numbers.  I just let me coach tell me what to do, basically, because I don't want to be too concerned about it"

In one of the day's most exciting battles, three athletes were in close contention for the men's 85kg title.  

Eighteen-year-old Jared Fleming (Pine City, N.Y.) led Paul Roberts (St. Charles, Mo.) by a kilogram with his snatch of 141kg. 

Fleming opened the clean and jerk portion of the event with a lift of 165kg to Roberts' 160kg. 

It was Michael Tirrito (Livingston, N.J.) who was determined to make a statement as he attempted to move out of his third place status with a huge opening lift of 170kg.  Tirrito's ambition didn't pay off, however, as three attempts later he was unable to complete the lift and did not post a total for the competition.

Fleming, however, won the division after he lifted 170kg on his third attempt for a total of 311 to Roberts' 300kg. 

Six-time Senior National Champion Danica Rue (Jersey City, N.J.) won her American Open title in the 69kg division by one of the greatest margins of the day.  With 22kg separating her and silver medalist Kelly Lynch (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Rue earned the gold with a snatch of 85kg and a clean and jerk of 112kg.

Phil Sabatini (Lexington, Va.) may have gone six-for-six to win the 94kg gold medal with a total of 323kg, but the fight for second place kept the crowd entertained for the entire session as Jonathan North (San Ramon, Calif.) edged out Frankie Murray (Floral Park, N.Y.)  If an award was given for "Crowd Favorite," North might have won it as he played up his quest, before, during and after the lift.  An athlete who thrives off energy from a crowd, North invited people to "watch this!" as he would announce that he was going to "snatch this" on a clean and jerk attempt.  Before his snatches he would often invoke the name of whomever was going to serve as his inspiration, be it an athlete from his club or German Olympic Champion Matthias Steiner.  

Although North looked to have been injured after his final snatch, he returned for the clean & jerk competition where his lift of 176kg was the best of the day.  Trailing on the final lift of the day, Murray attempted 182kg to overtake North, but couldn't complete the lift and placed third.

In addition to medals awarded during the day, two other former athletes were recognized of their achievements.  

During the competition, Joe Dube (Baldwin, Fla.) was recognized for being the last U.S. man to win a world title in weightlifting 40 years ago. 

Dube thanked USA Weightlifting CEO Rick Adams (Colorado Springs, Colo.) for his plaque and then gathered a crowd of lifters around him as he rallied America's young athletes to make it their mission to bring a gold medal back to the United States.  

Maher Baker (Longwood, Fla.) also was recognized during the event. The 20-year-old competed in the 85kg division, but will be leaving the sport to represent the United States in a new way as he recently announced his decision to join the Navy. 

Competition continues on Sunday at the Mobile Civic Center Arena, 401 Civic Center Dr.  The event begins at 10 a.m. and is expected to end at approximately 4 p.m. Tickets are $10 and are available at the door.  The schedule of divisions is as follows:

10 a.m.
Women's +75kg

Noon
Men's 105kg

2:30 p.m.
Men's +105kg

The top eight finishers in each division on Saturday are as follows:

Completed Scoresheets

Men's 77kg
1. Chad Vaughn (Florence, Texas)
2. Mike Cerbus (Cortland, Ohio)
3. Christopher Heinig (Auburn, Wash.)
4. Trique Meininger (Lake Tapps, Wash.)
5. Adam Beytin (Laurel, Md.)
6. Jimmy Duke III (Beaufort, S.C.)
7. Adam Rozmenoski (Rochester, Minn.)
8. Jonas Westbrook (Buffalo, N.Y.)

Men's 85kg
1. Jared Fleming (Pine City, N.Y.)
2. Paul Roberts (St. Charles, Mo.)
3. David Motoyoshi (Lakeville, Minn.)
4. Robert Hall (Marietta, Ga.)
5. Alford Chandler (Atlanta, Ga.)
6. Keylin Mackey (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
7. Steven Pan (Walnut Creek, Calif.)
8. Mikkel Ng (Edmonds, Wash.) 

Men's 94kg
1. Phil Sabatini (Lexington, Va.)
2. Jonathan North (San Ramon, Calif.)
3. Frankie Murray (Floral Park, N.Y.)
4. Kyle Cook (Yorkville, Ill.)
5. Tony Grana (Grover, Mo.)
6. Timothy McInnis (Benton, La.)
7. Lyndon Echels (Pflugerville, Texas)
8. Guy Hornsby (Johnson City, Tenn.)

Women's 69kg
1. Danica Rue (Jersey City, N.J.)
2. Kelly Lynch (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
3. Brianna Barnett (Kidder, Mo.)
4. Jessica Carrero (Bronx, N.Y.)
5. Allie Henry (Marquette, Mich.)
6. Kristin Newman (Sunnyvale, Calif.)
7. Stephanie Haacke (Kensett, Iowa)
8. Tracy Steinberg (Houston, Texas)

Women's 75kg
1. Erin Wallace (Shreveport, La.)
2. Rachel Crass (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
3. Samantha Zimmerman (Mobile, Ala.)
4. Maegan-Lee Snodgrass (South Jordan, Utah)
5. Michelle Baier (Holcomb, Kans.)
6. Whitnee Maycock (Lexington, Md.)
7. Kelsey Vance (Bradenton, Fla.)
8. Traci Jessop (Wall, N.J.)

Tags: Adam Beytin, Chad Vaughn, Christopher Heinig, Danica Rue, Erin Wallace, Frankie Murray, Jared Fleming, Joe Dube, Jonathan North , Kelly Lynch, Kelly Lynch, Maher Baker, Michael Tirrito, Mike Cerbus, Paul Roberts, Phil Sabatini, Rick Adams, Trique Meininger