USAPL Maine End of The Year Awards - 2022
2022 was a banner year for USAPL Maine.
Starting with our first meet, one of the first featuring USAPL’s “new”, weight classes, we grew to new heights, combining rising talent with seasoned veterans.
In 2022, we had 115 different lifters register a total in competition, up from only 62 the year before! That means 53 more people took the first step to do a meet and surely that means a good portion of people around them will follow suit, just what we wanted!
We had 4 meets in state in 2022, up from 2 the year before.
We had numerous lifters qualify for and some actually compete in national meets, ranging from USAPL High School Nationals, Collegiate Nationals, Teen/Junior Nationals, and Open division Raw Nationals.
The following is something I have wanted to do for a while now, so I decided to take matters into my own hands.
In state, we have some very talented lifters, some that already get a ton of coverage and deservedly so, others maybe not so much, however, I think both deserve some sort of formal recognition at the state level, as in any other athletic domain, there is honors given for each level of the sport and at the moment, we don’t even really have that (we do, it’s just kept under the rug) at the national level.
Here are the awards categories as well as qualifying criteria.
Men’s and Women’s Lifter of The Year: Lifters who competed twice or more and accomplished any or multiple of the following: represented Maine at the national level, broke state records, won best lifter medals.
Junior Lifter of the Year: Highest men’s and women’s DOTS coefficient for the year of 2022 in the jr. division.
Teen Lifter of the Year: Highest men’s and women’s DOTS coefficient for the year of 2022 in the teen division.
Master’s Lifter of the Year: Highest men’s and women’s DOTS coefficient for the year of 2022 in the masters division.
Rising Star Award: Lifter who made a splash in their first year of USAPL Maine competition.
Comeback Lifter of the Year: Lifter who came back from injury, poor performance, or hiatus to positive results.
All USAPL Maine First Team: Top 5 Highest DOTS coefficient scores for 2022 (mens, womens)
All USAPL Maine Second Team: Next 5 Highest DOTS coefficient scores for 2022 (mens, womens)
USAPL Maine All Star Team: Highest Totals of 2022 in each open division weight class (mens, womens)
Meet Director of the Year: Meet director who provided not only frequency of competitions but sought to raise the bar each competition they directed.
So, without further adieu, here is the inaugural USAPL Maine End of the Year Awards.
Men’s Lifter of the Year
Evan Downing, 82.5kg
3 Meets, 393, 397, & 420 DOTS (7th highest in 2022), represented Maine @ HS Nationals placing 4th in the 82.5kg Varsity division, set 1 official American Record in the squat, 2 unofficial, won 1 Best Lifter Medal, qualified for Teen Nationals, Collegiate Nationals.
Starting off with a bang on Jan 8th of 2022 with an unofficial American record in the squat, Evan competed frequently this year and increased his performance each time he went out on the platform. Setting some form of unofficial or official American record each time he competed, Evan also was fortunate enough to place top 5 at his first national meet of his career, representing Stand Strong out of Wilton, Maine. Everything culminated on one of the final meets of the year on December 3rd, where we entered 400+ DOTS territory and showed major improvement in the other two lifts and his total thanked him for it, carrying him to a Best Lifter day and securing multiple national meet qualifying totals.
Evan is a very fiery competitor, often times going ballistic after his 3rd squat attempt, usually accompanied by Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden somewhere in the background.
We are very happy to see Evan progress in his first year at college where he also plays rugby and are excited to see his future in the game.
Women’s Lifter of the Year
Marielle Opena, 52/56kg
2 meets, 414 and 418 DOTS (highest in 2022), won 2 Best Lifter Medals including our State Championships, broke multiple state records in 2 different weight classes.
Marielle had quite a return to form in 2022, taking all of 2021 off of competition, making her a strong candidate for comeback lifter of the year as well. Already holding the highest coefficient marks in USAPL Maine recorded history in the raw division, this year saw Marielle put up solid performances that were good enough to win Best Lifter at the state meet as well as the Carrie Boudreau Big Pullooza II.
Anyone who has been around Marielle can attest she is extremely humble and unassuming. As opposed to the male counterpart of this award, Marielle is very internal and many times does not say a word or make a sound before, after, or even during her biggest attempts, truly showcasing how different personality types can have equal success in this sport.
If there is a favorite to repeat as an award winner in 2023, Marielle would be a pretty safe option.
Men’s Junior Lifter of the Year
Michael Beaupre, 67.5kg
448 DOTS
In 2022, Michael came back with a vengeance. Having taken all of 2019, 2020, and 2021 off of competition, he came back to the platform on January 8th of 2022, PRing his total and winning Best Lightweight Lifter at the Maine Event: Winter Open.
Further solidifying this performance, Michael came back in the summer time to not only set another PR total, but qualified for his first open-class Raw Nationals on the final lift of his day, with his back against the wall. Winning best lifter at this meet as well, he was a strong candidate for Men’s Overall Lifter of the Year.
In 2023, Michael will be competing at least twice that we know of, more than likely improving substantially at both meets. A Team Hogan athlete, he is a very emotional lifter and one that is very inward-reflecting.
His swan song in the junior division was a dream sequence, one of the finest lifters this state has ever seen!
Women’s Junior Lifter of the Year
Kaylee Dow, 67.5kg
344 DOTS
Continuing her trend of one meet per year, Kaylee only needed one competition to solidify the top junior women’s performance of the year, putting up a strong showing at Maine States.
Kaylee is now a Team Kang athlete and someone to watch over the next year as she is registered for the 2023 Maine state meet.
This appears to be her final year as a junior as well, we think she will be a formidable competitor in the open class for years to come!
Men’s Teen Lifter of the Year
Evan Downing, 82.5kg
421 DOTS
Evan’s coefficient score was 43 points higher than the second highest for 2022! A truly dominant year!
Women’s Teen Lifter of the Year
Julia Wells, 75kg
359 DOTS
Coming on to the scene with great presence, Julia competed 3 times in 2022 and improved her performance each meet, culminating in a PR total at the Carrie Boudreau Big Pullooza II that was good enough for 2nd overall to Marielle, our overall women’s lifter of the year!
Julia will most likely continue this reign of terror on the teen division, almost a sure thing to repeat so long as she sticks with the sport!
She has a very bright future and we cannot wait to see what she does as her career in strength sports takes shape!
Men’s Master Lifter of the Year
Wes Johnson, 100kg
338 DOTS
If you have been involved in Maine drug-tested powerlifting, chances are you have come across Wes at one of the meets in-state, although he was relatively dormant in 2022 in terms of frequency of competition, he made his presence known by winning Best Master’s Lifter at the state meet, taking the rest of the year off to build for the coming year.
Wes is a truly intense competitor and is known to be able to grind out very heavy lifts for seconds at a time. In terms of closeness, this division was separated by under 10 DOTS points.
Women’s Master Lifter of the Year
Brenna Herridge, 67.5kg
303 DOTS
Brenna has been a staple on the local scene since mid 2021, competing twice that year and another two times in 2022. Brenna has improved on her total each time she has competed and shows no signs of stopping!
The third Stand Strong athlete to be featured, she represents a conglomerate of very talented lifters!
Rising Star Award
Logan Allaire, 90kg
Just like Evan Downing in 2021, Logan exploded on to the scene in 2022 with a performance that was years above his current status in the sport. Squatting over 20kg over an American record that stood since 2012 in the T1 division, Logan made a splash and then some in 2022.
Representing Team Hogan, he also became 1 of only 40 people in USAPL raw history to squat over 500lbs in competition under the age of 18 in his weight class.
This award is synonymous with, “Next up”, and there is a strong case for him to be the teen lifter of the year next year! High School National awaits him.
Comeback Lifter of The Year
Michael Beaupre, 67.5kg
Now, this was a tough choice.
Jon Lavoie, Marielle Opena, Christina Consigli, and Carlee Cummings all had viable cases here, however, when being as objective as possible, it is hard to argue with 2 Best Lifter Medals and a Raw Nationals qualifying birth as well as multiple state records in your first year back since 2018.
All-USAPL Maine Men’s First Team
Jon Lavoie, 82.5kg
Erik Hogan, 67.5kg
Michael Beaupre, 67.5kg
Andrew Graves, 82.5kg
Michael Pinkham, 110kg
All-USAPL Maine Men’s Second Team
Ely Yang, 90kg
Evan Downing, 82.5kg
Evan Larsen, 100/110kg
Evan Wright, 100kg
Ben Rivers, 100kg
All-USAPL Maine Women’s First Team
Marielle Opena, 52/56kg
Christina Consigli, 67.5kg
Emily Grinnell, 100kg
Julia Wells, 75kg
Tayla Knapp, 90kg
All-USAPL Maine Women’s Second Team
Carlee Cummings, 75kg
Kaylee Dow, 67.5kg
Brittany Boxer, 56/60kg
Georgina La Grange, 67.5kg
Serena Paquet, 75kg
USAPL Maine Men’s All Star Team
52kg: Roman Galkowski
60kg: Felix Meas
67.5kg: Erik Hogan
75kg: Maurice Romanshyn
82.5kg: Jon Lavoie
90kg: Ely Yang
100kg: Evan Larsen
110kg: Michael Pinkham
125kg: Nikola Blagojevic
140kg: Maxwell Dingle
USAPL Maine Women’s All Star Team
52kg: Marielle Opena
56kg: Marielle Opena
60kg: Brittany Boxer
67.5kg: Christina Consigli
75kg: Julia Wells
82.5kg: Sage Dubay
90kg: Tayla Knapp
100kg: Emily Grinnell
100kg+: Laura Doody-Bouwer
Meet Director of the Year
Andrew Graves
Representing Maine as the state chair, Andrew co-directed 3 meets, all to success and improvement each time at the helm. Innovating things that have permeated to other parts of New England such as prize money for competitors, livestream with commentary and professional set up, and walk up music for 3rd attempts, Andrew is leading the charge for how local and state level meets are run and anyone who is involved with the meets he co-directs can attest how much work he does behind the scenes to make them tick.