Ryley Liller poses with her collection of powerlifting medals. The Pittston Area senior, a team captain for the Pittston Area Powerlifting Club, turned to powerlifting to help her get healthy and build strength as a gymnast.
Courtesy of Dave Gardner Photography
The Pittston Area Powerlifting Club, led by coach Ed Straub (top row, far left), took third place as a team last month at the Teenage State Championships held at Parkland High School. The club’s medal haul included four state champions and an unofficial state record in deadlift set by Nathan Zielinski.
Courtesy of Dave Gardner Photography
Powerlifting wasn’t always part of the plan for Pittston Area senior Ryley Liller.
For most of her life, Liller was laser-focused on her budding career as a gymnast, a journey that landed her in rarefied air with a Division 1 scholarship in the sport.
But when a few nagging injuries had Liller looking for ways to get healthy and gain some strength, she turned to Pittston Area’s Powerlifting Club.
“I was looking to recover and to build strength,” Liller said of her decision to enter the world of powerlifting. “I just fell in love with it.”
In just a few short years since its founding, coach Ed Straub has built the Powerlifting Club into a serious competitor at every level.
The club has become a constant presence at state and national powerlifting tournaments, most recently bringing home an impressive medal haul at the Teenage State Championships on Feb. 22 at Parkland High School.
Liller was right in the mix amongst her teammates at states, winning a third-place medal in her division and achieving personal records on the bench and in the deadlift.
Even so, she admitted in an interview that it hadn’t been her best day, and she’s got the resume to prove it: Liller is a returning runner-up from last year’s High School Nationals tournament in New Orleans, a trip she got to make with several of her Powerlifting Club teammates.
“I love being with my teammates … being a part of this team has been amazing,” Liller said. “We do it for fun, but we take it seriously, too.”
Liller’s successful foray into the world of competitive lifting hasn’t come at the expense of her gymnastics career, however — it’s been quite the opposite.
With the strength and discipline she’s added from her work with the Powerlifting Club, Liller’s been able to bounce back from those injuries and continue to get better at her first passion, with great success.
Liller earned a Division 1 scholarship to Long Island University to continue her gymnastics career. She credits powerlifting with helping her work through a pair of knee injuries that had her sidelined.
“I was out of the gym for a couple months, I lost so much strength in my legs,” Liller said. “The strength training really helped me … it’s a different kind of discipline.”
Ryley’s mother Mallory Liller has gotten a front-row seat to watch her daughter become a bona fide two-sport star at Pittston Area.
She’s seen just how one sport benefits the other, with Ryley’s work in powerlifting strengthening her as a gymnast and earning her a scholarship.
“Ryley had a lifelong dream of becoming a collegiate athlete. Powerlifting helped her to reach that goal and stand out through the recruiting process,” Mallory Liller said. “What was once meant to be extra strength training and injury prevention ultimately mixed with her fierce competitive nature and led her to the powerlifting team.”
Powerlifting Club excels at state tournament
While Liller was certainly a key cog in the machine, Pittston Area’s Powerlifting Club is anything but a one-person show — as demonstrated by the group’s performance last month.
Straub and his lifters traveled down to Parkland High School for the Teen State Championships, and came home with a treasure trove of medals.
As a team, Pittston Area finished third in the state despite having to forfeit several weight classes. The Patriots had four state champs and four other lifters finishing third or fourth place in their divisions.
Twelve lifters made the trip to Parkland, including a few newcomers to the team, and eight came back with medals.
“I just wanted to get their feet wet,” Straub said, referring to the new faces on the team. “I was floored. … Our team captains were great, everything went right for us.”
Troy Fratarcangeli, Ella Rosiak, Kayden Walker and Nathan Zielinski won state championships in their divisions. Zielinski managed to top even winning a state title: he set an unofficial state record with a 460-pound deadlift.
Liller and Izzy Tokar won bronze medals, while Matt D’Aiello and Demetrious Louis each finished in fourth place to round out the Pittston Area Powerlifting Club’s medalist crew.
It was the latest in a line of standout performances from Pittston Area at these types of events — none bigger than the club’s showing at last year’s High School Nationals in New Orleans.
Grouped into a boys’ team, a girls’ team and a mixed team, the boys and the mixed squads won national team championships, while the girls team finished as a national runner-up.
“I was hoping to place 10th. That was my goal,” Straub said at the time. “We wound up winning a national championship.”
This year’s High School Nationals are set for April 10 in Milwaukee.
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