Shankle, Schluender and Mangold Win Heavyweight Divisions at KeepOurTanker.com American Open in Mobile

(Mobile, Ala.) - The KeepOurTanker.com American Open concluded on Sunday in Mobile with gold medalists named in the heavyweight divisions.

COMPLETE RESULTS

Although she is often known as the younger sister of New York Jets player Nick Mangold, 20-year-old Holley Mangold (Centerville, Ohio) made a name for herself several years ago when she garnered media attention as a female offensive lineman who played varsity at Alter High School in Dayton, Ohio.

Now Mangold has focused her efforts away from football and toward weightlifting.  Though she is still new to the sport with only eight meets to her credit, Mangold improved her total by 30kg between the Junior Nationals in March and Saturday when she won the +75kg division at the American Open.  Lifting 40kg more than second-place finisher Tamara Solari (Fall City, Wash.), Mangold's total of 220kg established her as one of the top three women's heavyweights in the United States. 

Two-time Senior National Champion Donald Shankle (San Ramon, Calif.) lifted a total of 350kg to win the 105kg division by 35kg.  

Although he won the division with one of the top totals for a U.S. player in his division this year, Shankle said he was looking for better results. 

"I didn't do very good for as hard as I trained.  I was capable of at least 15, 20 kilos more on my total," Shankle said.  "I haven't competed nationally for awhile. I came off a big weight loss for this meet, too. I lost about 40 pounds over a five-month time frame, but no excuses for not doing how I wanted." 

Shankle remains focused on his goal of qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

"I did clean and jerk more than the top 105 in this class so I guess I can smile at that," he said.  "Short term, I want to make the Pan Am Team, make the World Team and then medal at the Olympics."

In the men's +105kg division, juniors Zachary Schluender (Shreveport, La.) and Caleb Ward (Pleasonton, Calif.) were tied for the top placing after the snatch with 157kg each. 

Although Schluender opened the clean & jerk portion of the event with a lighter lift of 187kg to Ward's 190kg, Schluender ended with a clean and jerk of 198kg to 195kg to win the gold medal.

At the conclusion of the event, 58kg gold medalist Amanda Hubbard (Ann Arbor, Mich.) was named the Outstanding Female Lifter and 77kg gold medalist Chad Vaughn (Florence, Texas) was named the Outstanding Male Lifter. 

The following are the top three men's and women's teams at the event:

Men
1. East Coast Gold
2. Lift for Life
3. California Strength (corrected from earlier report)

Women
1. East Coast Gold
2. Coffee's Gym
3. Calpian Weightlifting Club

The top-eight results for each division are as follows:

Completed Scoresheets

Men's 105kg
1. Donald Shankle (San Ramon, Calif.)
2. Thomas Braddy (Savannah, Ga.)
3. Benn Overkamp (St. Louis, Mo.)
4. Steven Jarvis (Marquette, Mich.)
5. Ian Wilson (Berkeley, Calif.)
6. Robert Davis (Columbus, Ohio)
7. Garrett Walters (Norvolk, Va.) 

Men's +105kg
1. Zachary Schluender (Shreveport, La.)
2. Caleb Ward (Pleasonton, Calif.)
3. Colin Ito (Marquette, Mich.)
4. Shane Maier (Northbrook, Ill.)
5. Jason Starks (League City, Texas)
6. Eric McGill (Charlotte, Mich.)

Women's +75kg
1. Holley Mangold (Centerville, Ohio)
2. Tamara Solari (Fall City, Wash.)
3. Nicole Knighton (West Bountiful, Utah)
4. Joanna Jones (Avon, Ohio)
5. Chelsea Rebman (Millersville, Pa.)
6. Rebecca Kudrna (Lawrence, Kans.)
7. Marissa Klingseis (St. Joseph, Mo.)

Tags: Amanda Hubbard, Amanda Hubbard, Benn Overkamp, Chad Vaughn, Donald Shankle, Holley Mangold, Ian Wilson, Robert Davis, Steve Jarvis, Steve Jarvis, Tamara Solari, Thomas Braddy, Zach Schluender