The USPA Oregon State Powerlifting Championships, run by long-time friend and Forum member Ric Rabourn, was held on December 3-4, 2016 at Hallmark Resort Newport. We sponsored the meet and had special N.O.V awards for two lifters to be decided by Ric. Since I've known Ric for awhile, I trust him to give the award for the person that most represents the N.O.V. attitude. This does not mean you lift the most weight; it is won by showing overall excellence, commitment and brass knick knacks.

Troy Zuroske, competing in the 220 weight class, was one of the N.O.V. Award Winners. Troy trains out of Forever Strong Performance in Springfield, OR while studying for his Master's degree in Computer Science at the University of Oregon. He trained the past year with coach and great friend Victor Filipe to whom he credits a great deal of his success- "Without him I never would have hit any of these numbers. He was at the meet as well and had great performance."

Squat: All Good Lifts

Opened @ 501.5
2nd Attempt @ 529
3rd Attempt @ 540.1 50 Pound PR

Troy: "This honestly was as big a deal to me as the deadlift because I had been stuck at 501.5 lbs. in the squat forever, approximately 2.5 years actually."

Bench: 2 Good Lifts

Opened @ 319.6
2nd Attempt @ 325.2- Missed
3rd Attempt @ 325.2- Came back with focus to tie previous Meet PR

Troy "Bench is by far my weakest lift and this was the only lift that didn't feel great that day."

Deadlift: All Good Lifts

Opened @ 650
2nd Attempt @ 680
3rd Attempt @ 700 PR and Meet Highlight

Troy: "My best deadlift prior to this meet was 677 lbs. set back in February and I had actually been chasing 700 for about a year because I went for it at this exact meet a year ago and could not lock it out. I finally got it. This was a long time coming and as you can see from the video I was overwhelmed with emotion...with the 700 pull I was able to take home the the title Best Raw Male Lifter.

I worked very hard for this meet-training and dieting harder than I ever had before and was ecstatic to see the results... My total for the meet ended up being 1565.3 @ 220. But I actually weighed in at 217. My next goal is a 1642 total because I'll probably never be satisfied. However, accomplishing two life goals in one day was amazing (700lb deadlift and win best lifter). I'm not sure I have anything else to say except thank you very much for the award it was very generous, and it was a great meet."

See All 3 Final Lifts Here