The final day of the 2016 USA Weightlifting University and Under 25 Nationals finished with a bang as Mattie Rogers crushed three weight-class records for gold in the women's 69kg A session in New Orleans on Sunday.

With the bugs worked out from a previous day plagued by technical mishaps, the event's finale packed six A sessions to close out the competition and saw many tightly matched battles. 

Check out the recaps for each weight class below, and click here for archived footage of the event.

Men's 94 A Session

The 94kg men started the final rounds of the competition with all but three opening attempts made. The tightly packed totals required more caution, and the jitters from the previous day's chaotic atmosphere led to more conservative openers for both the snatch and clean-and-jerk portions. The snatch session came to a head when D.J. Shuttleworth, Nathan Stemo, Evan Pounds, and Anthony DeMatteo broke into the 140kg range. Shuttleworth, missing his first and second lifts at 140, stayed in the game with his third attempt, but Stemo took the lead with 146kg.

The clean-and-jerk opened with an equal amount of caution, but red lights soon came back on as the competitors played a game of changes in the back to offset each other. The battle would come to a peak when Shuttleworth made his opening attempt at 170, and Stemo made his second attempt at the same weight. Shuttleworth made his second attempt at 175, giving him a 315 total and Stemo a 316 total. The two lifters then let loose as both had already won their respective categories in the 94s. After Stemo missed with a 173, Shuttleworth attempted a personal best with the heaviest lift of the session at 190, but he also fell short to end a powerful session.

Women's 69 A Session

The women's 69 A session started off in style with only one missed opener. Everyone in this session deserves praise, but the most notable performance would be that of national phenom Rogers. Going 6 for 6, Rogers broke the University snatch (101), clean-and-jerk (127), and total (228) records on her openers and following attempts. Almost every competitor in the session attempted personal-best lifts, with Amanda Miller, Olivia Stimpel, and Abby Barron, and Barron also breaking their previous top marks to complete the competition with 6-for-6 performances.

Men's -105kg A Session

Entering the heavyweight divisions, the men's -105kg session witnessed some of the top lifts of the competition. Evan Graybill, Matthew McCarty, Edward Baker, and Joshua Ji led the session after the snatch portion. After Graybill grabbed the early lead with a 155kg snatch, Ji moved ahead with a 156 following two misses. The clean-and-jerk session picked up the pace of the competition, as Anthony Sannella and Mundy attempted lifts over the 180kg mark to take home medals. Baker withdrew from the competition due to an injury sustained in the veteran's second clean-and-jerk. Ji pulled ahead immediately on his opening attempt at 187, followed by a 195. He closed with and a massive 201 attempt, which was the only attempt over 200kg of the day. While Ji was not able to complete the lift, he walked away with the session victory.

Women's -75Kg A Session

Another tightly packed session in terms of entry totals, the -75kg women started fast with only a spread of 14kg between the top and lowest snatches. Juliana Riotto, Phoebe Ng, Kaley Anderson, and Sarah Johnson led the group with only 3kg difference between first and fourth place. The clean-and-jerk session heated up as Crysta Cirillo and Nicole Lempe broke the 100kg barrier and left no room for error in the top four. After sitting second in the snatches, Ng made her second attempt at 105 to match Riotto. After missing her opener at 107, Johnson came back to hit her second attempt at 108 to give her the bodyweight advantage and the same total as Riotto, who hit 109 to reclaim the lead again. Down to the last two lifts, Johnson threw a Hail Mary and went for a 6kg competition best with a successful 112 clean-and-Jerk. Riot responded and also made a competition best at 112 to take the victory.

Men's 105+ A Session

The men's 105+ session would ring in the most consistent male competition yet, with only 19 missed attempts out of 53 attempts. Steven Maradona, Javier Pagliery, and Nicholas Saccente were the leaders of the session in the snatch, as well as the clean-and-jerk. The three all ended up with competition bests in both events, but it was Saccente who took a substantial lead with his 158 snatch. Saccente did not take his final clean-and-jerk attempt and retired to victory in the session.

Women's 75+kg A Session

International veteran Marissa Klingseis took the victory with a substantial lead to close out the weekend and the final women's session. However, there were promising lifters behind her who vied for position as well. Catherine Lucas, Vanessa Frost, and Alexandria Ludwig traded blows and kept the competition as tight as the women's -75kg class. With a 5kg lead over Frost, Ludwig had the advantage in the clean-and-jerk and stayed ahead by 1kg in her attempts. Ludwig showed why she has a promising future, especially with the addition of the 90kg class to the American Open this year.  Klingseis, coming off of an intense quad like her peer Rogers, also used this meet to help gauge herself for the 2020 Quad. Klingseis made consistent, strong attempts, and she forewent her last lift in the clean-and-jerk after she secured victory in the session.



By Matt Bergeron