ND powerlifters earn medals in national competition

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Three North Dakota powerlifters made a name for themselves on the national stage.

Dave Stensland and Ashley Omsberg were awarded gold medals and Devin Lawrimore earned the silver medal at the 2023 Arnold Xtreme Powerlifting Coalition Championship on Saturday, March 4.

The competition featured 100 of the country's top powerlifters facing off in three events: the squat, bench press and deadlift.

Stensland earned his second straight win at the Arnold XPC with a 650-pound squat, 385-pound bench press and deadlifted 650 pounds for a total of 1,685 pounds.

He said with previous experience at the Arnold, nerves didn't play a factor.

"I was focused on taking care of business and hitting what I wanted," Stensland said.

Prior to this year's competition, Stensland contemplated retirement but, after training throughout the year, came back. He said he doesn't know what the future holds and didn't rule out the possibility of returning to the sport.

"I think at this point," Stensland said, "I'm just going to take a nice long offseason to train, rest, recuperate and recover. Then kind of go from there."

At the after social event, Stensland got to show off his musical talents.

"I started talking to the band that was playing the (after social), and they found out that I was competing, so they invited me to come up and play a couple of songs with them," he said.

After a stellar performance on the bass guitar, Stensland got an invitation to play with the band at next year's Arnold.

Omsberg received the gold medal in her respective division with a 240-pound squat, 140-pound bench press and a 355-pound deadlift.

Lawrimore was awarded the silver medal with a 450-pound squat, 220-pound bench press and a 390-pound deadlift. His lifts also garnered a subdivision award.

Lawrimore and Omsberg will compete in the 2023 King and Queen of the North powerlifting meet in Dickinson on April 2.