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     THE AMERICAN CHALLENGE:  The American Challenge is a fantastic meet as there are meets spread all across the country.  Lifters simply have to compete at the closest meet and when all meets are finished, the results are compiled, and a national champion is crowned. 

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     ARCHIVE:  Not only do we want to recognize the current champions, but we like to remember the past champions as well.  The archive is a record of the past winners in the full meet, curl and bench.  Some of the data has been lost over the years and I do make more than my share of mistakes so the archive will be updated/repaired from time to time.  

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       THE AMERICAN CHALLENGE (FULL MEET-WOMEN):  When I write up a meet, I like to focus on the lifters that have won multiple titles as sustained excellence is incredibly difficult.  The crazy part about the powerlifting segment of the 2023 nationals, only one (yes one) lifter was a repeat winner in the open division.  It was like someone had a dry erase board and wiped off all the big names and said, let's start again.

       This being the case, I want to start my write up by focusing on our only repeat champion.  Mackenzie Grace Taylor of North Carolina who won the 2022 national title at the young age of fourteen.  In 2023 Mackenzie returned to the American Challenge and she competed at THREE different Challenges (North Carolina, Virginia and Florida).  Mackenzie would take first at 165 and 181 which means 100% RAW now has a 3x national open champion who is still too young to drive a car.  Mackenzie would also take home that best lifter award.  I want to give recognition to Anna Stametz of FLorida who was second in the running for best lifter and 198 national champion Arriana Rochester of Ohio who was third. 

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     THE AMERICAN CHALLENGE (FULL MEET-MEN):  For the men we didn't have any repeat champions, so I will focus on the top three men by K formula.  Winning the best lifter belt was one of my all-time favorite lifters who is also a member of the Curling Avengers, Bruce Knox of Maryland.  Bruce has an unorthodox stance when he squats, but if it works, it works.  Bruce is one of the very few lifters that is a world level curler and powerlifter.  In second place for the best lifter was Keith Nautel of New York and in third was Bruce Knox's teammate and now 148 national champion: Willie Trebach of Maryland.  

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   THE AMERICAN CHALLENGE (CURL-WOMEN): For the women it was Krystal Brown who put up the greatest performance.  Krystal not only won the 132 class, BUT Krystal Brown was the only lifter in the women's division to win multiple titles and not just a few.  Krystal has now won the national bench title five times; in winning her fifth title Krystal is now tied with Natasha Beasley with the most national titles won by a female lifter.  

     Alexis Kajencki would win the national curl title at 165 AND she would also post the top curl by K formula.  The second highest curl by K formula was Linda Lee of Virginia.  Linda would take home the 198 national title.  Finishing in third by K formula was Jennifer Macon.  

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     THE AMERICAN CHALLENGE (CURL-MEN):  In the curl it was once again Gary Teeter who would come out on top as Gary would win the 123 and the 132 national title.  Gary's two national titles would push Gary from second to first as Gary is the only lifter in 100% RAW with seven national curl titles in 100% RAW.  

     At 220 it was Bruce Knox who would not only post the #1 curl by K formula, but Bruce is now in a four-way tie for third place with five national curl titles.  Also deserving special recognition is Giorgio Karallas of Indiana (by way of Greece if I'm not mistaken).  Giorgio would win the 275 class which was his second national title and Giorgio would finish in second by K formula.  Finally we had Ethan Binckley of North Carolina who would win the national curl title at 148 and post the third highest curl by K forula.   

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    THE AMERICAN CHALLENGE (BENCH-WOMEN): In the bench Mackenzie, once again, set the mark winning her third bench title.  Mackenzie would finish in second place by K formula.  A special thumbs up to Carolina Lee of New York who was the only other female to win two or more national titles.  Carolina would win her second national title and she would finish in third place by K formula.  Finally, a big thumbs up to Alexis Kajencki of Virginia who was the top female bencher by K formula and she would take home the national title at 165. This was Alexis first national title.  

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     THE AMERICAN CHALLENGE (BENCH-MEN): I can't say it enough, winning multiple titles in sustained excellence.  With this being said, the always popular Gary Teeter of Pennsylvania would take home the national title at 123 and he would then take home the 132 national title which would earn Gary world title #8 and #9.  Gary is now tied with Pedro Mejias of New York with the most world titles in 100% RAW.  As long as Gary can stay healthy, I see little doubt that he will be the first bencher from 100% RAW to win 10, possibly 11 world titles next year.  How great is that.  

     Another great lifter to watch out for is Jeff McDaniel of Pennsylvania who is quickly moving up the leader board.  Jeff would win the 198 title which gives Jeff a total of 5 national titles.  Special recognition to Rickie Dozier of North Carolina who would not only win his third national bench title, but Rickie would also post the top bench by K formula.  Jason Williams of Pennsylvania was also impressive as he won his first national title at 181 and finished in second place by K formula.  Finally, we have 148 national champion Willie Trebach who finished third by K formula edging out teammate and 220 national champion Bruce Knox who was fourth by K formula.  What a loaded division.

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