Thirty-three Athletes Compete at TYR Wodapalooza SoCal

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – In collaboration with TYR Wodapalooza SoCal, USA Weightlifting hosted a competition next to the Huntington Beach Pier from September 20-21, 2025. Thirty-three athletes competed throughout the weekend. Several came from local clubs such as Southern California Weightlifting Club and Long Beach Weightlifting, while other groups traveled from RoseCity Barbell in Portland, OR and Tempe CrossFit in Tempe, AZ. Other individuals traveled in from Washington, Colorado, Kansas, and New York. The sporting ages ranged from 15-year-old Brady Carroll to 67-year-old Denise Moore.

The competition ran differently than a normal weightlifting meet. Athletes competed separately at one of four competition platforms, and were given 30 minutes to complete their best snatch and their best clean & jerk. One technical official was assigned to each platform. Although it was not a traditional weightlifting competition, results were counted towards national qualifying totals. This is similar to any athletes’ ability to qualify for national events via the monthly online qualifiers.

Full Results

“My dad and sister judge at Wodapalooza, so I thought it would be a fun opportunity to come lift here on the beach,” Carroll said. “It’s a fun atmosphere here.”

2024 Pan American Youth Championships bronze medalist Autumn Sands made the trip from Kansas with her family as she gears up to try to make another international team at the VIRUS Weightlifting Finals in Daytona Beach in December. Sands has competed in the CrossFit competition at the last two TYR Wodapalooza events.

“I wasn’t expecting much, just to come out here and have fun,” Sands said. “But I ended up tying my personal best for snatch (80 kg) and hit 95 kg on clean & jerk. So, still pretty solid numbers. I was not expecting that.”

Angela Mar had the shortest commute to the competition, taking the walk from her home in Huntington Beach. Mar had previously competed in two competitions in 2021 before getting married and having her first child. This was her first competition back.

“This is walking distance from our home, so my baby’s over there watching,” Mar said. “We walked over this morning. We were hoping it would be very relaxed, and it was very relaxed. It was very chill. The refs were great, everyone was helpful, the audience was great. It was a great meet.”

Two Jacob’s in the 88 kg category finished atop the men’s leaderboard according to Q Points, with Jacob Laster from SoCal Weightlifting Club lifting 130/145/275 (346.897) and Jacob Senate lifting 115/145/260 (329.031). In third, also an 88 kg, was Joshua Phillips with 105/130/235 (296.950).

On the women’s side, Angela Gallegos (58 kg) took first with 73/97/170 (244.590). Julia Tomasello (53 kg) and Anna Maguire (63 kg), both from SoCal Weightlifting Club, took second and third with 68/88/156 (239.357) and 79/92/171 (233.160), respectively.