Cowboy State Strongmen (and Women)

Posted

The Cowboy State Strongman Classic brought a

number of men and women to town on Saturday, Sept. 7, to roll huge

concrete stones over bars and drag trucks up South Lincoln Avenue.

The competitors hailed from as close to home as Pinedale and Big

Piney to as far away as Billings, Mont., and Ogden, Utah. Athletes,

their friends and families set up shade tents and umbrellas, stretched

and practiced lifts and cheered each other on. Many were novices and

participating in their first or second competitions, which as organizer

Andrew Zook told them, means they are “no longer novices.”

Events included lifting circus dumbbells, a Nissan car on a platform

and weighted “Atlas stones” made from concrete. Women harnessed

up to pull a Dodge Ram dually and men, a wildland fire truck with 750

gallons of water added. When the imperceptible slope of South Lincoln

proved to best every male athlete, Zook decided to dump about 7,000

pounds of water and turn the truck around – and every contestant pulled

and competed against the clock.

At the end of the day, sole male heavyweight David Keetley won all

of his events.

Closer scores came up in the middleweight

division where Valgier “Valley” Arnason

took first and Doug Wellemeyer and Ian

Driskell tied for second. The tiebreaker? Carrying

a 500-pound stand on their shoulders the

farthest. Driskell made it 24 feet, 10 inches.

Wellemeyer then went “farther” for second.

In men’s novice, Mike Martino took first,

followed by Austin Lofland and Brian Singer.

The “really awesome competitive women”

pushed themselves and cheered fellow female

athletes as hard if not harder than the

men, with Zook announcing first place went

to Guilia Vernati, second to Jalyn Anderson

and third to Alivia Patterson, from Big Piney.

The Cowboy State Strongman Classic was

sponsored by Wyoming Athletic Development

with Rocky Mountain Yeti donating use

of their vehicles as “weights.”