Men’s Nationals


Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, the site of this year’s USAPL Men’s Open, Teen and Junior National Championships saw several lifters from Massachusetts and New England. This year’s championships was special because 30 years ago it was Brother Bennett of St. Stanislaus in Bay St. Louis, whose passion for drug free weightlifting and Powerlifting gave birth to the American Drug Free Powerlifting Association which later became the USAPL.

Friday, the first day of the competition it was once again Cohasset’s own Eric Kupperstein took first place in the 123lbs weight class and broke his own National and American Record in the Squat. Eric finished the day with a 485lbs squat, 270lbs bench press, 529lbs deadlift for a 1,284lbs total. Look for Eric to represent the USA in the IPF world championships in the new 130lbs weight class later this year.

Saturday had two Massachusetts lifters compete, first up was the Harvard Professor, Lauren Cohen in the 198lbs weight class. In an attempt to bring home a first place finish, Lauren failed to perform a legal squat at 727.5lbs and was not able to post a total. Later on Saturday it was the junior lifter from Northeastern University, Luis Jaimes in the 220lbs class. Luis was looking to make up from his performance at Collegiate Nationals and gain consideration to join his collegiate teammate Joe Cappellino on the junior world team. Lou’s 673.3lbs squat, 473.9lbs bench and 551.2lbs deadlift gave him a 1,698lbs total which placed third in the juniors.

Sunday did not have any lifters from Massachusetts but did have some friendly faces from Maine compete. Michael Kalter in the 242lbs weight class had a strong day with a 683.4lbs squat, 424.4lbs bench press, and 705.5lbs deadlift. Kalter’s 1812lb total impressive by its self was only good for fifth place amongst the tough competition. Joining Kalter was Darren Barbeau in the 275lbs weight class. Barbeau finished the day with a 584.3lbs squat, 452.9 bench press, 622.8lbs deadlift for a 1,659lbs total. This was good enough to place Barbeau fourth in the open 275lbs class.

Congratulations to all of these lifters and thank you for representing Massachusetts and New England Powerlifting on the national stage.

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The mission of Mass-Lift Powerlifting is to promote drug-free powerlifting competitions, training seminars, and fitness events throughout the country. Overall, our goal is to promote a healthy and active lifestyle that will encourage strength and fitness enthusiasts to compete at local, national and international level.