If Duluth residents thought they felt the earth moving Sunday, it's understandable. A lot of ground shaking was going on in the gymnasium at Duluth High School, where seven world records and 14 American records fell at the Quest American Invitational Powerlifting Championships.
Brian Siders and Tony Conyers each came away with multiple world records.
Siders set the world superheavyweight record in the bench press at 773 pounds, an American record in the squat with a 970-pound lift and the world record for total weight at 2,575 pounds.
Conyers set world records in the masters 165-pound division with a 650-pound lift in the squat and 673 pounds in the dead lift, and he broke his own record in total weight with 1,763 pounds in the three lifts.
The best lifts in three events -- squat, bench press and dead lift -- are used to compute total weight for each lifter.
Other world marks were set by Wade Hooper, with a 751-pound squat in the 165-pound class, and Dan Austin, in the 181-pound class, with a 728-pound lift.
Columbus' Montana Bahry set a national teenage bench press record at 203 pounds.
Duluth's Caleb Williams had a banner day as well, setting four American records in the 148-pound class: 633 pounds in the squat, 468-pounds in the bench press, 551 pounds in the dead lift and 1, 662 pounds total weight.
Damian "Doc" Holloway, at 123 pounds, also came away with two American records, a 578-pound dead lift and 1,366 pounds total weight.
"I wasn't happy with everything I did," said Williams, a personal trainer at Quest Nutrition and Athletics in Duluth, "but it was a good day overall. It was a personal best in total weight for me. Having it here was good for a lot of the local kids who had never seen us compete. This gave them a chance to see what it's like.
"This kind of meet allows our best athletes to concentrate more on setting records rather than trying to win a championship or earn a team spot," said Robert Keller, technical officer for USA Powerlifting. "Instead of overall totals, the emphasis is on individual lifts. I see it as an excellent opportunity to set American and World records."