Milan is Building a Strong Powerlifting Team

Powerlifting at Milan High School has a newer team this season, but if the results from recent competitions are any evidence of where the team is at as far as skill, it’s obvious the team is not new when it comes to strength.

Here is some recent news from the Big Reds Powerlifting team, care of the Milan Big Red Athletics Facebook page:

“Ryleigh Lopez competed at Romeo’s regional qualifier on Saturday. She placed 1st and is now double qualified for the state meet which gives her the opportunity to choose which weight class to compete in. She is now ranked #3 in her current weight class going into the state meet. Great work Ryleigh!”

And more, from the Jackson Northwest Regional:

Varsity:

• Ryleigh Lopez placed 1st with a total of 735 lbs.
• Charleigh Meggison placed 1st with a total of 620 lbs.
• Both girls obtained a personal record on each of their 3 lifts.

JV: Reagan Ott placed 3rd with a total of 305 lbs.

Powerlifting is defined as a competitive strength sport that tests an athlete’s maximum, one-rep strength with the barbell in three types of lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift.

To learn more about Milan’s powerlifting team, the Sun Times News reached out to Coach Phil Harrington.

The team is newer, Harrington said, and they had a coaching change this year so the team is also small. Milan has 10 athletes on the roster with six girls and four boys. Some schools’ teams have up to 60 boys and 40 girls.

“The season has been good so far,” Harrington told STN on Feb. 21, as they were looking ahead to the state tournament.

As the end of the season approaches, Milan has the JV state meet on Feb. 28, followed by the varsity state meet on March 7, the coaches and team will be recruiting new athletes for next season and looking for sponsors to help with buying new equipment and supporting the athletes who qualify for the High school national meet.

Anyone interested in helping the team out can contact Harrington at [email protected] or Milan High School.

Harrington said they “are working on building a solid foundation for next year.”

Milan expects to have several incoming freshmen interested in joining already.

Photo Milan Powerlifting 1: Ryleigh Lopez competing in the regional. Photo: Milan Big Red Athletics

Photo Milan Powerlifting 2: It’s a team effort in Milan. Photo: Milan Big Red Athletics