After an incredible year that resulted in five lifters placing at state, the GHS Powerlifting team is gearing up for this year’s season. Led by coaches Brenden Raybourn, Alise Pape and Jacob Myers, the team’s foremost goals are to help new lifters gain strength and set the advanced lifters on the road to taking state titles.

“My hopes for this upcoming season is that, with all of our new lifters, that they fall in love with the sport and the journey of becoming stronger and that they continue to pursue it for the next four years,” Coach Pape said. “And then for some of our more advanced lifters, there are goals to take state titles this year.”

The first day of lifting will take place on Monday, Oct. 30th, with the first meet being in December. Coach Raybourn said he expects 50 to 60 athletes to attend.

“An average day in the weight room kind of looks like chaos,” Coach Pape said. “If you go rack to rack, you’ll find groups of lifters working together on their technique, their form, pushing each other to be stronger and really just trying to grow themselves.”

This season, the team aims to build off of last year’s successes and continue growing GHS’s powerlifting community. Coach Raybourn hopes that his athletes can improve between now and the end of the season.

“I always want them to have a good attitude and a good mindset,” Coach Raybourn said. “One thing I always will talk to them about is when they’re going to make a lift or going to try maybe a weight they’ve never done before, I always tell them to know they can do it, know they’re gonna get it.”

For interested athletes, this can be the year that their powerlifting journey begins and they find a love for strength building. Last year, sophomore Roxy Lightle joined powerlifting halfway through the year in an effort to get stronger and hang out with friends. However, she now has hopes to make it on the wall of records.

“I really like hanging out with my friends there and watching everybody increase their weight over time and just get stronger,” Lightle said. “Everybody is so nice and uplifting, and they all support you and they cheer for you when they see you’re struggling.”

Returning coach Ms. Pape has been an incredible mentor and role model for every lifter in the weight room, but she has been able to push the female athletes specifically and help them reach their potential.

“A lot of times when you’re lifting around guys, it’s very hard to lift your best, because you don’t think you can do as much,” sophomore Emma Hermeling said. “So our coach holds girls-only lifting practices to help us get better and to realize that we can actually lift more than we think.”

Coach Pape said she believes that there is more to powerlifting than just lifting weights and building muscle. The sport presents challenges that allow athletes to learn important life skills.

“Power lifting is learning how to move heavy weight, but it’s so much more than that,” Coach Pape said. “It’s learning how to work hard and sometimes endure pain. And that strength carries over into other aspects of your life, whether that’s your family or your schoolwork. That strength makes you powerful in every arena, not just on the platform.”