CODELL STORY, OWNER of Body Alchemy Bodyworks and Massage in downtown Iron Mountain, in May placed third overall in the Michigan Massage Championship in Detroit. (Submitted photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — Codell Story, owner of Body Alchemy Bodyworks and Massage in downtown Iron Mountain, won third place overall in the Michigan Massage Championship at the AMC World Massage Festival that took place May 2-4 in Detroit.

Competing against nearly 40 others masseuses, Story took first place in the Swedish massage category and second in clinical massage.

“The most rewarding part about doing the competition was seeing all the other different modalities and different therapists,” Story said. “I got to see so many different styles of massage.”

In November, Story also competed in the Wisconsin Massage Championships in Madison, winning the best massage experience category.

Story graduated as a massage therapist in May 2022 from Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay, then gained his national certification in November 2023.He opened his own practice in March 2023 at 415 S. Stephenson Ave.

Story is an Army veteran who served 7 1/2 years as a combat engineer and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2013.

In addition to his Iron Mountain business, Story frequently travels to Green Bay to massage Packers players. In addition to the Packers, Story provides massages to the WWE wrestlers when they are in the Green Bay area.

“I got a chance to work on a lot of the big superstars and that was pretty awesome because I saw them when I was a kid,” Story said. “It was an amazing experience.”

Despite possible scheduling conflicts with the Packers and WWE,Story has plans to continue competing in the future to including an event in North Carolina and is eager to improve on his finish in Michigan.

“I am happy that I got third overall in the entire state of Michigan but at the same time I wanted first,” Story said. “That is for next year.”