Dan Continenza prepared for his squat at the 2008 USA powerlifting collegiate nationals in Denver when suddenly his weights fell off.
Continenza, whose squat got pushed back to a later time, eventually placed eighth in the 242-pound weight class, but not before going through a vomiting spell on the sideline and popping his rib out of place. Continenza's performance helped lift the Penn State club team to a fourth-place finish out of more than 20 schools competing this past weekend.
Last year the club placed six out of 12 schools in the running.
"We were under the assumption that we could place top 3," said Continenza, who is president of the club. "Ninety-nine percent of these kids haven't powerlifted before. We turned them into powerlifters."
Along with the better performance, five members broke state records, including sophomore Ben Werner who now holds both the New Jersey collegiate and junior records for squat, deadlift and total. Werner also placed seventh in the 242-pound weight class after being bumped up from the 220-pound class.
Continenza recalled how fans and athletes from other teams would cheer each other on if someone was close to breaking a record. He said that powerlifting is not like football or hockey where teams are "at each others' throats."
"The atmosphere was very hectic," said Kelly Dormer, who placed eight out of 30 in the women's 148-pound weight class. "Overall, I have a very calm outlook. I stay in my zone."
Dormer, the only woman to lift at nationals in 2007, added the change from Eastern Time to Mountain Time did not play a factor in the team's performance, but something else did -- the altitude.
Continenza said many members of the team experienced fatigue and headaches during the match. He said the altitude put many teams at a disadvantage, especially teams from lower sea levels, such as Louisiana Tech -- even though Louisiana-Lafayette finished second in the contest.
Despite the altitude change and the rowdiness of the crowd, sophomore Kevin Sheaffer managed to place second in the 132-pound weight class and broke New Jersey collegiate and junior state records in all four weightlifting categories.
"[The crowd] is not distracting at all," Sheaffer said. "It's good to hear the people behind you cheering for you."
The club has come a long way over the past two years. It did not exist prior to two years ago, whereas now the club has more than 80 members. Continenza and vice president Nick Mercurio restarted the club, which stopped operating after the 2000 season.
Continenza said the team now gets e-mails from curious high school athletes who are interested in joining the team. It also competed at high schools in order to raise awareness about its program.
