Latest / The Platform: a Michigan High School Powerlifting Association Podcast / Women In Powerlifting PT1 w/ Morgan Gilliam & Erin Ribic (Dickey) | The Platform Episode 17
Transcript
- Chris Whittaker: Welcome to the platform where the stories wear ton. This is where some of the MHS PLA's best tell real stories about what it takes to build themselves and their teams under the bar. I'm your co-host Chris Whitaker, and we're glad you're here. Hey, if you're enjoying this show, please make sure you subscribe and follow and leave a review on all major podcast hosts, including Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Amazon Music, and many more. That support helps us continue to grow the show and bring the conversations that you want to hear. right here to the platform. If you'd like to suggest a guest or give us feedback for the show, please email info at mhspla.com and we'll get back to you. Also, we're proud to announce the launch of our MHSPLA gear shop, t-shirts, hats, and more. Visit MHSPLA-shop dot fourthwall dot com and check back often and frequently because new items are being added all the time. Again That's MHSPLA-shop.forthwall.com. Today's episode is episode number 17, featuring part one of a conversation with two very successful powerlifting athletes in the state of Michigan, Miss Morgan Gillam and Miss Erin Ribbick. Maiden name Dickie. In this first part, we go back to where it all started: the early pioneering days of girls powerlifting in Michigan. By growing a program from a handful of athletes into a full team and what it took to build the camaraderie that defined those years. Morgan and Aaron share how they each found their way to the platform, the meats that shaped them, and how the sport has grown since. We wrap up part one, right as the conversation turns towards life after high school. So make sure you come back on Thursday and hear part two. Until then, step up. Lock in, the bar's loaded for episode 17 with Morgan Gillam and Aaron Ribbick. Hit the intro music. Morgan Gilliam: you Chris Whittaker: Ladies and gentlemen, the bar is loaded for another episode of your Michigan High School Powerlifting Association podcast, the platform, where the stories weigh a ton. I'm your co-host, as always, Chris Whitaker. We're back again with my guy, your guy, the leader of this whole thing, Coach Chris Gillum. Coach Gillum, good to see you. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, good to see you too. Very excited for this episode. two well accomplished women in the sport of powerlifting that came from the MHS PLA and went on to bigger, better things down the road. So I'm excited. I think for all of our female lifters that they should be super excited to see the and listen to this episode. Chris Whittaker: Yeah, I think this one is going to be fun for sure. the first I will introduce this young lady that Coach Gillam, you may know a little bit. Right? You may have worked with her in the past, you know, things like that. Right. She competed collegiately and internationally. She was a member of the 2018 U.S. sub-junior national team that won the IPF World title. Right. Her college team was a UP USAPL. Chris Gilliam: Yes. Chris Whittaker: Collegiate national champs four times. and she still holds twelve Michigan State records and three Midwest regional records. She once upon a time set two American records in her very first USAPL meet. This young lady is also a two time MHS PLA state champion and former record holder. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Morgan Gillum. Chris Gilliam: All right. Morgan Gilliam: Hello. Chris Whittaker: man, Morgan, I didn't have the button. There it is. Chris Gilliam: Yep. Yeah. All right. I love it. All right. Well, I want to welcome and introduce our other guest today. This guest once held fifteen equipped American records for her weight class. She also held fourteen more Michigan state records. She now resides in the state of Washington, where she currently holds five Washington State equipped records. Morgan Gilliam: I love it. Chris Gilliam: There are numerous other retired records that she held at one time when she competed. She was the Open USAPL national champ in 2002 at 17 years old. Later that year, she became the IPF sub-junior world champ. Let's welcome Erin Rivick, formerly Erin Dickey, for those of you from Plainwell, Michigan. Let's welcome her. All right. Erin Ribic: Thanks guys. Chris Whittaker: So welcome both of you. Now, listen, I'm gonna have a hard time, not Aaron living in Washington State. There's a lot of Bigfoot activity out there, but that's a whole nother whole nother episode. Morgan Gilliam: Ha Erin Ribic: There is. Chris Gilliam: Yes. Chris Whittaker: A whole a whole lot of Bigfoot activity going on up there. Morgan Gilliam: . Chris Whittaker: so we'll get this we'll get this show on on the road here going. first thing, right, and why don't we start with Aaron for this? tell us a little bit bit about yourself. what do you do for a living? are you married, kids, any of that? Morgan Gilliam: Mm-hmm. Erin Ribic: no kids married. I am a physical therapist now. So that's kind of where the sport road took me down was so I work as a physical therapist in a hospital setting. I originally thought I wanted to work with sports just because of powerlifting and then ended up really loving being in the hospital. So my husband and I also run kind of we met through fitness and we run bodybuilding shows, so that's part of our our business too. so yeah, fitness has I mean it's really shaped every part of my Chris Gilliam: Yeah, we plan on talking to you about that later for sure. Morgan Gilliam: yeah. Erin Ribic: life is where it all started was in the weight room in high school. Chris Gilliam: Awesome. Morgan, tell us about yourself. Morgan Gilliam: Yeah, so I'm not married, no kids. But currently I run, yeah, thanks, Seth. But yeah, currently I run my own business and then I also work full time as an exercise physiologist. My business is geared towards like powerlifting and performance mainly and I do like in person and online personal training as well. Chris Gilliam: All right. Good. Chris Whittaker: Yeah. Remember, when that day comes, I know a very reasonably priced DJ, Coach Gillum. Very, very affordable. Very affordable. Aaron, I just want to say, like, for me, in my experience, some of the best PTs I've ever had and athletic trainers that I've ever had the chance to work with are the ones that spend time under the bar and know what it's like to be under the bar. So I'm sure any any Chris Gilliam: That's right. You get the first and only call. Morgan Gilliam: Mm-hmm. Chris Whittaker: strength coach, personal trainer that gets to work with you. and that I'm sure they love it 'cause I've had where they don't. And Erin Ribic: They sometimes Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Erin Ribic: love. Morgan Gilliam: Yeah, that's true. Chris Gilliam: All right, Coach, you wanna give the first question? We'll let Morgan answer this one first and then Aaron, you can. Chris Whittaker: Yeah. All right, so look in into the MHS P L A and your high school experience, section one. Morgan Gilliam: Mm-hmm. Chris Whittaker: still working on the buttons the the I can't remember if I have to hold if I have to hold the button down or just tap it once you know high high production value Aaron on the show here for coach gillum and I we we've been flying by the seat of our pants for the last several several weeks all right all right thanks but you have to say that because you're related to one of us Chris Gilliam: Yeah, for sure. Morgan Gilliam: Yeah, I think it's great though. You Erin Ribic: This is great. Yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, we're doing all right. Morgan Gilliam: I think you guys are doing great. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, that's right. Chris Whittaker: How, Morgan, did you get first introduced to the sport of powerlifting? Morgan Gilliam: Yeah, so I got introduced by my dad, Chris Gillum. I guess there's like, mean, dad can probably tell better than me, but there is like a like legendary story, I guess, of when I was two, I carried a Hawaiian punch jug into the house because I wanted to help carry in groceries. And I guess a few of his football. yeah. So I guess I was younger than that. And he was like, a couple of football players were over and they're like, coach, like she's got to be a power lifter. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, she wasn't even a year old. Morgan Gilliam: And then when I was 11, my dad started teaching me to squat and bench. But before that, I had kind of been in the weight room because of his football practice, because he was a football coach, even now, but like my whole life. And so, yeah, so I think he had me like start on like maybe some machines, whatever ones I fit on during that time. I was doing like step ups. I think I was trying to do pushups. And then, yeah, when I was 11, started learning to squat and bench. And then when I was 12, he was like, all right, kid, we're going to compete this year. And then. Yeah, never looked back. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Yeah, so real quick on that story, Coach and Aaron. We moved into our first house. I had some players with me. We were moving groceries into the house, so the players were grabbing some stuff and moving it, and then they turned and they said, Coach, look. And Morgan was probably about ten months old. So she'd been walking for maybe like a month. She you know, those big Hawaiian punch jugs with the handle, she's carrying a Morgan Gilliam: You Chris Gilliam: like a goblet squat and she's just walking down the sidewalk with it and I was like, What are you doing, kid? And they're they're like, You got a little power lifter on your hands there, coach. So that was the moment we kind of proclaimed, Okay, she's probably gonna do this stuff as she gets older 'cause she just grew up around it. Yeah. So how about you? Yeah, pretty much, yeah. Aaron, how about yourself? How'd you get introduced to it? 'Cause it might Chris Whittaker: Ha ha. Morgan Gilliam: You We manifested it, Erin Ribic: That jug was probably as big as you were at that point. Morgan Gilliam: Probably. Erin Ribic: So my story's much different. I was I was a cross country runner 'cause I was little and skinny. and Todd Miller was teaching we kinda cross country took a class so we could get our f first run of the day in during school and he kinda oversaw the cross country kids going for our three mile recovery run every morning as a class and Chris Gilliam: You were a cross country runner, right? Erin Ribic: So kind of a combination of that. And I needed a ride home from school from my friend Phil. And Phil had to go to the powerlifting meeting. So I was sitting out in the hallway waiting for him to drive me home and Todd's wife at the time, Karen, who was one of our assistant coaches, was just like, Come on in. Like and I like, No, no, no, no. I'm just waiting for just waiting for my friend. And she's like, Get in here. So I accidentally sat through the powerlifting meeting. and kind of was listening. And I'm, you know, and I I knew a lot of the girls in there. I was like, This seems kind of cool. So kind of the combination of of those things. And they're like, you know, we need a ninety seven pounder. So I was like, I mean, I'd done volleyball as a freshman. I'm fighting Chris Gilliam: Mm-hmm. Everybody needs that. Morgan Gilliam: Yeah. Erin Ribic: So that was never gonna be my my career. So it just I was like, okay, we'll give it a try. Like let's just do it. So I never really touched a weight until I was fifteen years old. Chris Gilliam: Nice. Well you you shot up real fast in the ranks there. That's pretty awesome. so both of you, I mean with your experience, and we'll start with Aaron on this one. Was the weight room an intimidating place for you? and what convinced you that you had what it took to step on the platform at a at a meet over time? Erin Ribic: Yeah. Chris Whittaker: Yeah. Morgan Gilliam: Yeah. Erin Ribic: Huh? Yeah. Yeah, I would say it was, because at the time there weren't many girls in there. and it wasn't the nicest weight room in those days. At first we ended up getting a nicer one, but it was there were a lot of guys, there was a lot of music, there were heavy weights, it was definitely but I'm also stubborn and I kind of think I just wanted to do it 'cause there not a lot of girls were doing it. So I was like, sure, let's just be the girl who does it. So getting on the platform, I think I Todd probably just said we're gonna go compete this weekend. So Morgan Gilliam: . You Chris Gilliam: Yeah, that sounds like Todd. Yeah, that's awesome. Pr pretty nervous, I'd imagine. Morgan Gilliam: It's awesome. Erin Ribic: Yeah. yeah. It was I mean I don't know if you've got questions later. I mean my first meet I benched the bar and I think I squatted i in full gear. I mean we're talking knee wraps, like bench shirts. I squatted one fifteen and I think I deadlifted a plate. I mean it was just that was Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Sure. You didn't even need the equipment, probably. Erin Ribic: Right. I'm sure we already like knew how to use it properly at that point, but yeah. Chris Gilliam: Sure, but no, that's that's awesome, man. And that's all that's all it takes to get the adrenaline dri going, the confidence going. So awesome, good. And Morgan, how about yourself? Morgan Gilliam: Yeah, so I kind of touched on that briefly earlier, but I would say for me, I guess, I mean, I'm sure there are times I felt a little intimidated, but I was really lucky in the fact that like my dad, you like exposed me to that really early. And so like, I don't know, I've just always felt like the weight room is a place that I feel like most myself because of that. so like, and plus I was around those big scary guys with the loud music because I was always at football practice. And so like, yeah, so I mean, I think that's also why I do what I do now, you know, because I, love me, um, specifically working with women and making them feel comfortable in the weight room. Cause I always had that. Getting on the platform. Yeah. I think you pretty much were just like, all right, we're competing. And I was just like, okay. I was a little nervous, but yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, I think your mom was probably more nervous than you were and definitely more nervous than I was, but yeah, I could only put her in the weight room and only so long, Aaron, could she do coloring books and stay entertained? Eventually it's like she just was wandering out there like all kids do, trying to mimic what others are doing, you know, and so then I'm like, No, you can't get under the bar so it's lunges and step ups. Morgan Gilliam: You Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Chris Gilliam: And you know, air squats. And then then we introduced a bar, you know, over time. But it we actually introduced like the curl bar first because we didn't have anything small enough or lighter for training bars. So we had to do the easy curl bar at first. You know, and then we transitioned to a bar over time. So yeah, that was pretty good and it was fun. Coach drop. Morgan Gilliam: Yeah. Yeah. I'm late enough. That's so funny. Yeah, but I think that's awesome Erin Ribic: Yeah, we did a similar Morgan Gilliam: that... that's awesome. Yes! Erin Ribic: for Todd's girls because they were six and eight when they started and they had somebody worked in steel or I they had a custom like ten pound bar made for them with these little sleeves that would add a pound on each side. so that they 'cause same thing, they were stuck in the weight room over the summers and they just at some point wanted to jump in. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Morgan Gilliam: That's adorable. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, hi his daughters were were really strong. They they gave a demo demonstration on how to do certain lifts at the football coaches clinic because Todd did a strength session once and he had his girls in there doing the demonstration, Coach Whitaker. And I'm just looking at it going, These girls lift more than some of the guys suiting up for me on Friday nights and they're not very big. I'm like, We better change our program a little bit. Morgan Gilliam: Yeah. Chris Whittaker: You wanna get a football coach's attention? Bring girls in and put girls in front of that can lift more than his players. Then you you know the Chris Gilliam: That was pretty awesome. Yeah. Morgan Gilliam: Yeah. Erin Ribic: They could. They yeah, that's legit. Morgan Gilliam: No. But yeah, I think that's awesome, Erin, that you like did that because I feel like I got lucky in the sense that I was exposed to it really young. So that just takes a lot of courage. Chris Gilliam: For sure. Yeah, without a doubt. All right, cool. Chris Whittaker: So Erin Ribic: Ignorance. I don't know which Chris Whittaker: It's it's an interesting thing and we we hear it all the time and I'm I'm hoping to keep my two. I have a four-year-old Aaron and and a one year old. much like the Gillum girls, we the Whitaker girls here are all over the place. my daughter, Mila, the older one, likes to come come down and and train with me. one day she dropped a five pound plate on her toe. That was a great time. But we're hoping we can keep that going. Hoping we can we can keep that stuff going. So Chris Gilliam: Yeah, for sure. Morgan Gilliam: It must be something with the name Chris. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, probably. Chris Whittaker: Hey, the the other the other Chris I know that's in your family, he he doesn't have all girls. Chris Gilliam: No. Morgan Gilliam: True, true. Chris Whittaker: Yeah. Yeah. And I'm just and I as we're talking about this, Morgan, we definitely need to do a podcast with your mom. All right. Have her on. And we're gonna talk about your dad. But your dad's not gonna be there when we when we do it. And we'll let him watch it after that. Yeah. Morgan Gilliam: my gosh, that... Chris Gilliam: Sure, you know. That that might be the best thing to do, yeah. Morgan Gilliam: my gosh, what is this gonna be, like, the Powerlifting Wives episode? Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Chris Whittaker: Yeah, we can do that. You won't get much out of my wife about it because she's like, you're going to the meat? Cool. See you when get back. but she helps us at ours. Anyway, we're we're getting down rabbit holes, which we do very easily on this show. 'Cause again, Aaron, we're flying by the seat of our pants in all ways. So within our association, right, there it's it's kind of unique and I and I think it's powerlifting in general, but definitely within the MHS PLA, there's a lot of camaraderie between competitors, not just people kinda on the same team. but when you guys were training, we talked about how there wasn't that many girls involved. So were you training with other girls or were you training in with a group of boys? Erin Ribic: so I was, I think, around the third year that Todd was coaching powerlifting. His first kind of initial class of lifters had one girl. but she was a cool pretty girl in school, Tara O'Brien. And she made it okay for girls to do it. So by the time I got in, there was a pretty decent group of us. There was twelve maybe the first year. I mean, we were filling most weight classes and there were so definitely training with the girls, but we were never It wasn't like segregated. The girls train over here, the guys train. I mean, we all train together. Girl, you we tended to train together because we were lifting similar weights. But no, we had a pretty we had a fun team. I mean, some of those girls I still multiple of them I still keep in contact to this day and still see when I go into town. I mean, those are lifelong friendships. We traveled together, we trained together, we came up together. But the guys we were just it was it was one big group and that's what I liked. It was a big co ed group and everybody got along. we were always guys are bringing up all kinds of memories. we were expected at Meets we had a buddy. And so usually we'd have like a girl and a guy buddy, especially at high school nationals, multi-day events. And so to help each other out. The day you weren't lifting, you helped your buddy carry their bag, help them get check-ins. So yeah, we definitely had a really tight knit, tight knit group. Chris Gilliam: Okay, so your buddy was kinda like your handler at the meet then, right? Chris Whittaker: Yeah. Erin Ribic: Not I wouldn't even say that 'cause Todd called all the shots, but but more just kinda as moral support and somebody they would they could help you load your warm up weight. yeah, more so than like actually calling the numbers, but just kind of helping 'cause I mean at one point we had a hundred kids on the team or ninety kids or something crazy. I mean it was I don't know how that even it grew really fast. So I think that was the only way to keep some kind of handle on it was we all just kind of had to Chris Gilliam: Did they help you guys get in your gear and stuff? Okay. Nice. Okay. grew fast from what Todd told us. So Yeah, he couldn't be all of those places. There's no way. Erin Ribic: had to I mean that yeah, wrap each other's knees and I mean it was not uncommon to wrap somebody's knees after you got off the platform from doing your lift. You were wrapping the next lifter, like to help them get ready. Chris Gilliam: Sure. Yeah, I mean a whole different dynamic with equipped lifting. And our currently our girls would have no idea about that 'cause we're totally raw now. So all right. How about you, Morgan? Erin Ribic: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Morgan Gilliam: So, I'm sorry, the question again, one more time. The com- Oh yes, yes, yes. Yes. Yeah, so I, we kind of similar experience. I guess when I was in seventh grade, what do we have like five or six of us, I think, maybe a little bit more, maybe like five to eight. And I, yeah, I was in seventh grade. I was the only middle schooler and then- Chris Gilliam: The camaraderie high school. Did you train with other girls? It was it co op training? Morgan Gilliam: There were some other girls that my dad had gotten to join. And then, yeah, so we just kind of like lifted and I felt like we were a pretty tight-knit group. remember us all being super nervous for our first like MHSPLA meet. I remember one of the girls, like she was so nervous about commands, like she paused at the bottom of her squat because she thought she had to control it. yeah, we kind of all bonded over our nerves and all of that. yeah, and then the program just really grew. I went to Birch Run High School. And that's where my dad spent most of his career for teaching like so far and so, and coaching. And yeah, I think we ended up having like a hundred and some kids are pretty dang close by the time my senior year rolled around. And yeah, I would say it was still a pretty tight knit group. mean, we kind of ran it like a football practice. So we all like rotated in and I mean, cause you have to, we had a really small weight room. And so when you have that many kids, I think we ended up my last year having like two sessions or something. So like some of us would start on like our auxes and then go to like the main lifts and switch and yeah, just really great bonding. And then same thing for when we did USAPI high school, USAPL high school nationals. Yeah, we had a co-ed team and it was all really great. We went to Wisconsin that year. It was awesome. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, I mean Morgan was unique, Aaron, that to motivate some of the boys, sometimes I put her in a group with them because she would outwork them. And that was my message to them. Quit slacking because she's making you look bad. Yeah, I'm her dad I'm her dad, but I've coached a lot of really good athletes in my day. She has the best work ethic of anybody I've ever coached. Morgan Gilliam: Well, you know, I would lift in the... Chris Gilliam: And I'm glad that she's my daughter because of that. But yeah, so that used her to motivate and push some boys. And eventually we did that along with the girls. Morgan Gilliam: Well, sometimes they would take the summer off or whatever and then season would roll around and they're playing catch up. So yeah, that was super, it was cool. So I guess I did a little bit of both, yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Erin Ribic: Todd got ticked at me because probably I was being a brat and got mad at me one season. We'd switch lifting partners and he partnered me with one of the guys and made me change all the weight for him. I got so strong. But yeah, it was R I had to partner with Ronnie and I had to unload all of Ronnie's weights and load my little weights on and like Morgan Gilliam: We're Chris Gilliam: Yeah. That was his message to you. Morgan Gilliam: Dang! Chris Gilliam: Okay. That that's funny. Morgan Gilliam: my gosh. Remember, that's making me think of when, he got sick of- my dad got sick of us one practice because nobody was the weights right? And so he literally stopped practice and he was like, all right, you've got three people and the two are low on the weight, you're calling it, you have to tell them what to put on and I think if we didn't load it right, we had to run. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, and we ended up calling it eventually the NASCAR challenge. It was about who could what pit crew could work the fastest putting the weights on. Yeah. It's like it was about being efficient. I mean, I already was there all day. I didn't need to be there another five hours for powerlifting practice. It's like Yeah. Morgan Gilliam: I'm Yes, yep. Erin Ribic: Training your squatters and loaders. Morgan Gilliam: Yeah, it was great. Maybe you can implement that Whitaker. Perfect. Chris Whittaker: we are we already do that. That's that's how we train. They're they're loading if they're not doing that, I'm getting on them for you know, doing the wrong everything. Morgan Gilliam: I love that. Chris Gilliam: All right. Morgan Gilliam: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: Well, I'm gonna start with Aaron on this one. can you take us back all right? You talked about your first meet a little bit on the weights you did, right? do you remember your first state championship meet for the MHS PLA? Erin Ribic: Yeah, I think you might have numbers more than I do. I think it was in Muskegon that year or two thousand. and that one, that was terrifying because it was big. and back in those days there was there may have been two girls platforms. Usually we'd go to these meets and there would be the girls platform and then all the other platforms. But that that was really the first time I probably had competition, like actually had multiple people in my own weight class also. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Right. Yeah. Erin Ribic: So and that was the first meet. So back in the day, like not people didn't really know the rules of powerlifting. I mean, you guys had your rule book. but we were we were just winging it a lot back then. And Karen Miller actually won me my first state championship. She was in charge, she was always in charge of the girls' platform, and she knew the rule about changing your third deadlift attempt, and no one else knew that rule. So she legitimately won me my first state championship by knowing this the strategy at that point. Chris Gilliam: yeah. Erin Ribic: And Chris Gilliam: Yeah, so she did report it away, then you changed it so you could pull it and went. Erin Ribic: And then the g I think the gal was competing against Mist or whatever happened the moment that that girl got you know, we knew if she got it or not, she changed my third attempt to make sure that that I would Yeah, if I pulled it. So which caused a stir because the coach of that girl didn't know the rules either and thought we cheated. So Chris Gilliam: Yeah. You beat her. Todo. Erin Ribic: Yeah, but I mean there's so much more strategy now. There's so much more intention with how attempts are picked. And back then we were truly just like, I don't know, what do you think you want to do next? I don't know. You know, it was just very loosey goosey. So Chris Gilliam: Sure. Yeah, I mean I I would I would imagine, you know, especially being like your first year, it's like you're you're mainly like relying on them to just tell you what weights to do, right? 'Cause you're still not really sure what you're totally capable of. Erin Ribic: Or you're picking it, you go to the table and like, What are you doing next? And you're like, I dunno, let's try this, you know, like you just Chris Gilliam: Sure. Yeah, I understand. Well, and like only you only had, like you said, like two platforms for the girls. You know, now there's an entire meet just for the girls. I mean, well, hopefully one of these days you come back during the the powerlifting season, you can stop by and check out one. because like it it's way different because I was just starting to coach. I was probably the same time frame as Coach Miller when Erin Ribic: We had no plan. Mm-hmm. Mm, that's it's so cool. Morgan Gilliam: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: I was coaching. So like ninety-seven would have been my first year of coaching powerlifting and I only had like a couple boys and then then it just kinda grew and grew over time. But Morgan, how about you? You remember your first state championship? Me, you you know your first one similar to Aaron's as far as probably scary, but you guys had your own me, right? Morgan Gilliam: UGH Yeah, we did. was separate days at that point. Yeah, that was my junior year. Chris Gilliam: Friday night. Morgan Gilliam: Was ours Friday night or was it? Chris Gilliam: Yeah, the girls were Friday night and the boys would be Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon. Morgan Gilliam: yeah, it was, it changed my senior year, right? Yeah. So, yeah. So I would have competed on a Friday night. my gosh, I can't even remember where it was to be honest, but, yes, that was great. Yeah. That was a, quite a trip, but yeah, I mean, I just remember, I mean, I guess at that point I had already done like a USAPL meet. had kind of changed our training and everything. And so I don't know. My faith was always like, Chris Gilliam: Traverse City West. Morgan Gilliam: And my dad calling my numbers, was like, yup, like I'm going to lift it. You know, I wasn't, I mean, I guess I would ask during like training and stuff, but I was just like, I was ready to, ready to go. think, I think I missed like a lift and I remember, or you wanted me to do a little bit less on something and I really wanted to do more to break a record. But, but yeah, but that's what I needed to do to win the meet. So, yup. Chris Gilliam: Gotcha. All right. Coach Whitaker? Chris Whittaker: Alright, so is there any particular meat that sticks out in your memory from your time in the MHS PLA? Like a specific regional meet, or you you guys have d both talked about your first state meets, but any any other particular meets that stick out? We could start why don't we start with Morgan? We'll go back up now. Morgan Gilliam: Yeah. I guess my senior year really was pretty great in terms of the team that we had. We had a bunch of foreign exchange students that were on the team from all over, think Italy, Spain, and then Sweden. So it was just really great to see them. Like they never really lifted before. They might've like went to the gym and did like some machines, some dumbbell stuff, but not like a lot. And so to see them like pick up something new. We had like really great chemistry. remember when he decided to do like a team dance that year. And so like we filmed it at the end of like the meet. was like to the song, like, all I do is win. And we, we actually placed pretty high as a team. And I just think that goes to show like the sport, like some of the girls, like, you know, they may have mislifts or didn't have a good day, but like we all came together as a team. And I just, I really valued that year because it just shows, like how much those relationships mean. Because you're all working hard in the weight room and trying to accomplish something like greater than just yourselves. So yeah, I feel like that meat and I believe that was that Lake Orion really sticks out to me. So. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, we had three foreign exchange girls and what was unique about them, you know, when you'd say, Hey, put a twenty five on the end and they would crap their pants because they're thinking kilos. They're they're not paying they're not thinking pounds, you know, and I'm like, I gotta Americanize you ladies. And so they always freaked out about weights 'cause they're automatically went, you know, my gosh, that's a lot of weight, you know. But yeah, I remember Morgan Gilliam: You I can't. Chris Gilliam: One of the last regionals, two of the girls had already qualified for state, the last one, she th I remember everybody being around for her on her last deadlift. She needed to bullet to get to states for the qualifying total. And when she got it, I remember how excited everyone was. That stuck out pretty big for me. So how about you, Aaron? Morgan Gilliam: Yes. Yeah, that was a really good meet. Erin Ribic: Yeah, I think that Muskegon meet probably stuck out the most. It kinda all blurs together what was USAPL at the time meets versus the the Michigan High School meets. But like Morgan was saying, like just the camaraderie, it's what I remember most collectively is just being with the group of girls and just all of us competing together and you remember the parents that were there every single weekend in the stands. my dad used to joke that his butt was shaped like a bleacher 'cause of me 'cause he was stuck sitting Morgan Gilliam: you Erin Ribic: watching these meets don't go till ten o'clock at night. but yeah, I mean so it more than just the individual meet was just the meets. Just the excitement of the day, carpooling to get there, everybody loading into cars with tons of kids and getting to the meet, helping each other out. So Morgan Gilliam: You Chris Gilliam: Awesome. Yeah. Yeah, what what what did your parents think, Aaron, when you said, Hey, I'm gonna power lift? Erin Ribic: I think so the background is my parents were both music majors. Like they're both musicians and I have zero musical talent. But I think they're just kind of like, what's Erin up to again? what's she doing this week? You know, it's but they thought they were very supportive and thought it was it was cool, but I think probably not the way they saw their ninety pound five foot tall daughter going with Chris Gilliam: Yeah. I I could tell you every time I recruited like a girl to try and join our team and then, you know, being a teacher and then like parent teacher conferences or something like that, and their parents would come and visit ya. And the dads were always like super jacked that their girl was participating in a power lifted. Yeah, they would tell you on the on the side, like, Thank you so much for getting her involved in something. I'm you know, you could just tell like they were excited for their kid. Erin Ribic: Yeah. Morgan Gilliam: Yes! Chris Gilliam: 'Cause so many of the kids that I ended up coaching, I mean, some of played other sports, but there's a good amount of like that that was their sport. That's the one thing that their dad, like, tried to get in other sports. They w didn't stick, but powerlifting stuck with them, so that made it pretty neat. So Erin Ribic: Yeah, my dad became like the unofficial videographer. I mean, I have tapes of my first meet, but but then he started taping all the girls because we realized this I mean, this is how old it was. We could do video feedback. We could watch the tapes after the meet and see what we all did wrong. I mean, everybody does that instantly now on their cell phones, but that became right. That was kind of a that became his kind of job was to be the video guy. for the girls. Uh-huh. My first Chris Gilliam: Nice. Yeah, not back then they were, but that's awesome. Morgan Gilliam: Yeah, he was the film man. Chris Gilliam: That's that's the secret to those eight state titles in a row, man. Erin Ribic: Yeah. My first meet, I remember Aaron Bird, who was one of our bigger guy lifters, cramming me into an old Z suit and his arm was bigger than my thigh at the time. And he was a big guy. and my dad came running down the bleachers with his camera and Kara Miller's like, god, he's gonna s she's they're gonna sue us and my dad just wanted to take pictures of what was happening. 'Cause it was so ridiculous. But Karen's like, god, Mr. Dickie's gonna come yell at us but Chris Gilliam: Yeah, he wanted the memory. Morgan Gilliam: Thank Erin Ribic: We just wanted to document what was happening. Morgan Gilliam: You Chris Gilliam: That's awesome. Sure. Well heck, you wouldn't know it 'cause he's running down the stands. That's funny. That's pretty cool. Erin Ribic: Yeah. Chris Whittaker: Hmm. Chris Gilliam: Aaron start with you on this one. talking about the community you guys travel and stuff. So were were this the community, the coaches, the peers. what was the reaction from everybody like that you associated with when it you know it became known that all right, I'm gonna I'm gonna be a power lifter. I mean, you're not the biggest gal. You lifted in the ninety-seven pound weight class. Which coaches love that 'cause it's hard to find that way class. But it's not typical choice of sport for somebody that's that you know, that small. Like w do you remember what your parents thought or said? Do you remember what your friends might have thought or said? Erin Ribic: well and my friends, because we had such a big program at the school. If you weren't doing another sport, you were doing powerlifting. I mean, we had such a big program. but I will say with my family I mean, I still get this from people when someone will say, she used to be a power lifter, people still like, Really? You were you know, it's I still get that reaction. So But I think now it's just more ic not I wouldn't say accept like it wasn't not accepted back then, but definitely more common. I mean, CrossFit made lifting okay for women. Morgan Gilliam: . Chris Gilliam: Sure. Yeah. Erin Ribic: So I think it's just more common now. You go to the gym and there's more than two women in the gym. Regularly now. Yeah. Yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, it's not as shocking anymore that when somebody goes, Yeah, I'm a power lifter it's more like socially acceptable 'cause it's more common. I gotcha. How about you, Morgan? Morgan Gilliam: Yeah, I mean, I guess I don't really remember anyone being like super shocked just because I was always like coaches kid in school. So, I think they were like, yeah, kind of, of course, it was almost like, expected in a way. just cause of like you being a teacher at the school that I was at a coach and you also did powerlifting and football. So, yeah, I mean, I think maybe some people in our family were a little like, like, you know, worried about like. Are you gonna hurt yourself? And stuff like that. You know, the typical, whereas I'm sure one of them was mom. Yup, yup. And mom probably a little bit too. Yeah, yup. But yeah, after that, I mean... Chris Gilliam: Yeah, like your grandpas and your grandmas. Grandparents seemed to be worried. Sure. Well, you remember like in seventh seventh grade when there was only a handful of you? Did you guys ever feel like you're by yourselves or did you still feel like part of the the team? Morgan Gilliam: Yeah. I guess both at the same time because we had each other. We had good camaraderie during that season and it was something that, like we were the building blocks for the program to become bigger. for more opportunity for people, we were like, I guess the trailblazers of like, Hey, like you should come and do this. Like you should try this. You're going to love it. and kind of like touching on what you were saying earlier about how like it gave people a sport. It gave people something that. might not have had like a club or anything to belong to before. yeah, I mean, I think I played a little bit of other sports like volleyball, a little bit of basketball, but mainly volleyball track. so like some of those girls, like, you know, I had like some camaraderie with them, but it was never anything like powerlifting, like how that was. so, yeah, so sometimes like depending on the group, little bit of both. Chris Gilliam: Gotcha. All right, Coach Whitaker. Chris Whittaker: All right, that's gonna move us into our next category of questions. The post two thousand boom and changing perspectives. Morgan Gilliam: Nice. Chris Whittaker: Development. Chris Gilliam: That was that was pretty good, coach. Morgan Gilliam: Dang. Chris Whittaker: Getting getting better. Still flying by the seat of our pants. We're getting better. high school female powerlifting has absolutely skyrocketed post two thousand. you know, we have schools in our association now that their their their programs have just jumped in numbers. I mean, I think Troy Athens carried like fifty some girls last year. when you guys competed, you know, did you feel like Pioneers for the sport for females? Was there already a lot of other girls? You know, Aaron kinda alluded to this already. There wasn't that many other girls. But how did you did you feel like a pioneer in the sport at your time? Erin Ribic: If it would be pioneer because pretty early on, I think two by 2001, Todd was taking a group of us to women's nationals for USA powerlifting. So my first women's nationals in Fort Wayne, Indiana. So when we went down there with our girls' team, I mean Susie Hartwig was there, Liz Willett was there, Jen Maley was there. I mean, some really Hall of I mean truly IPF and USA powerlifting Hall of Fame women were there. And so I think what it did was by taking us to those events and seeing these other women of all ages and all backgrounds from all over the country competing, was just really powerful in that it's not just this high school thing, there's a lot of people doing it. So we weren't I mean, to us they were the pioneers. They were the women who've been doing it for fifteen or twenty years. Susie Hartwig, who's now Susie Gary, sat down with the girls before lifting started and talked to all of us in a small group and just kind of let us know what the day was gonna be like. and then very like professionally was like, okay, I'm gonna go lift now. If you have any other questions, I will, you know, when I'm done lifting, you can come and talk to me again. But she needed her space to to lift. But she was so gracious with her time and sitting down with this whole team of girls that were terrified at their first nationals. But but yeah, I think we just we just thought we were we were discovering something that we didn't know existed, that was out there. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, for sure. I can see that. I mean and to be quite honest, they were yeah, the pioneers for the sport, but honestly your your generation, I think, Aaron, was the pioneers for the MHS PLA. Morgan Gilliam: Absolutely. Chris Whittaker: Yep. How about you, Morgan? Well how did you you know, I mean obviously you were a little bit further along, when you came in, but Morgan Gilliam: Yeah, I I don't know if I ever really felt like a pioneer, like of the sport. I mean, I felt like, like not just myself, like I felt, I felt that in a team aspect, like for our specific school and like, just, you know, my dad being my coach, like, you know, we used to have the holiday meet at Bertrand in December. So like we were doing things, that like the schools around us, like in our district and stuff weren't doing. and so. Chris Whittaker: That Morgan Gilliam: I felt, I just felt like we were kind of all trailblazers and creating more opportunities for other people. Um, but yeah, don't know if I necessarily felt like a pioneer of like powerlifting. Um, I kind of felt like similar with USAPL, seeing all these like super strong women when I went, went to my first like raw nationals and I was just like, Oh my gosh, you know, like, um, all these women have been competing for so long and like, here I am just a little 17 year old, but you know, so yeah. Chris Gilliam: Aaron, do you do you remember how many like people typically would be in your weight class, that I mean? Erin Ribic: At nationals, you mean? Or just at sometimes I was the only one, especially being the ninety seven pounder. So that's why that first state meet when there were multiple girls, that was yeah, like I mean even at even at nationals, there were there were never more than four or five. A big year would be if we filled a flight. So yeah, it and now I know those smaller weight classes just are some of the bigger weight classes, which is awesome. So Chris Gilliam: No, let's go back to MHS PLA. Like how many would Okay. More. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Well, unfortunately your weight class no longer exists in the MHS PLA. Because we weren't we weren't getting a ton of kids in there and and so we just, you know, we figured that those ninety seven pounders will lift one five and the strong ones like you would have won it anyway. So Erin Ribic: I know it doesn't exactly exist anymore, but Morgan Gilliam: Yes. Erin Ribic: I no, I came up in the Gemma layer I would not have. Not even close. I needed that class. Chris Gilliam: All right. Yeah, I gotcha. I mean, you know, Morgan, you were in a variety of weight classes throughout your career, so you know, yours were some of the like more populated weight classes as you went through, you know, and that that changes every year, but Morgan Gilliam: yeah. Yeah, I mean I would say generally the weight classes I was in like were always like pretty competitive. I mean they were always full so yeah I would agree to that for sure. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, but I I s like I think your one of your first weight classes was like one forty five or one fifty five and I just know over the years that you competed, it went from like fifteen or sixteen girls in that weight class to like there could be a over thirty in the weight class at a meeting. And so like that that's when you realize that the gr the sport's growing when certain weight classes are doubling in size. Morgan Gilliam: Yeah. Yep, very popular weight class. Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: Because that's typically the sign of more participants, you know, especially when it's a regional meet. All right. early 2000s, Aaron, there were still some pervasive myths about lifting making women bulky. Right? How did you navigate those societal stigmas during your high school years? Were you ever worried about getting too bulky? Morgan Gilliam: yeah. Erin Ribic: It was never a problem for me. Chris Gilliam: Hmm. Morgan Gilliam: What? Chris Gilliam: Did do did you know girls that w were there girls that maybe even on your own team that worried about it? Erin Ribic: I don't think so. I there's just something so cool about the cape like it gives girls this feeling of being capable and strong and I think it gives you the confidence to just not care that you're you know, it was I just don't think the body image issues were be it w it wasn't because of the lifting. Nobody felt like, my gosh, I gotta stop lifting 'cause I'm getting too big. I mean, if anything else, gals started trimming down a little and just feeling better. about their bodies 'cause of what they're capable of, not because how they looked. And so then that changes your perspective. it just yeah, like I said, I never had to do like that. Chris Gilliam: Well. Sure. Well and you know, I I mean I I don't know if there were girls at at your school that might have used that as a reason not to participate, but it sounds like you guys had had a ton of that participated anyway, so not that like you guys Erin Ribic: I don't yeah. Yeah. Well in our weight room classes were full. I mean, it was I think that's part of the reason the team was so big is Todd was teaching weight training all day long. and there were girls in every class. So it just I think it was pretty accepted and and some people at some girls actually took it to either get ready for a different sport, or 'cause they wanted to get in shape. So Chris Gilliam: Sure. No, that's awesome. I mean, honestly, you were at the beginning of like the mind set changing, I think, to be quite honest, because it it was in those years your guys' success led to like Whitmore Lake winning four in a row and then Croswell Lexington going on like nine or ten in a row. Like it just like you just started seeing, you know, you guys would show up with a lot of girls. Nobody else had a lot of girls. And I think people realize if we're gonna ever win against playing well, we better get a lot of girls. You know, and so I think it changed the mindset. I I I think there's definitely you like I said, you guys are pioneers for our association because I think it you should guys showed just within your own school like it's okay to do this and look at how much fun they're having, how they're getting along. Morgan Gilliam: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: They're successful. And then you guys took at another level, going to nationals and and not just doing it within the state where people would go, Well, they got the most girls, that's why they're winning it. You would also take a smaller group of girls to nationals and do quite well as well, you know. So I think that was that was great. It was the start of something that's turned into huge success for the MHS PLA at the national level too. All right. how about you, Morgan? Do you remember girls ever saying that they didn't want to do powerlifting 'cause they didn't want to get too bulky? Morgan Gilliam: Yeah, I mean, I do remember that happening. But I think it kind of what Erin was saying, like it easily went away as they got stronger and just like being in that environment. But I do remember that being a fear. And I do think it's not like some girls from coming out because I don't know, there is like kind of a stigma of like, I'm going to look kind of manly and be bulky and stuff. And that's not the case. So, yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. Well, and I think what probably where our situation was different in Plainwell, we didn't have a too many weightlifting classes at the time during school, so it was all relying on after school participation. And so you could eliminate that with a large classes of kids doing it and getting comfortable with this environment. So all right. Good. Coach? Chris Whittaker: So the MHSPLA has added a separate girls junior varsity division as well to handle the massive participation spikes. this year the varsity state meet had more girls in it than we had boys competing this year. looking back, right, did you guys kind of see that evolution coming? Could you have predicted that while you were kind of in the the midst of it? Chris Gilliam: Go ahead, Erin. Erin Ribic: Gosh, maybe not that big. Yeah, it I mean it was growing for sure, but at least in my years, it wasn't exponentially growing. We had a big group of girls, but then some would graduate and then we get a couple more in. So I I re I think the big spike really happened probably after like two thousand and four, five, six years. more like Caitlin and Kendra Miller era. is when the huge numbers really started. Although high school national my last year was gigantic for the women. So different parts of the country, right? You draw from Louisiana, you draw from Nebraska. Texas, of course, has their huge organization for for the women. So I think maybe so I think different pockets were starting to grow and maybe we were one of those pockets. But no, I would have never imagined it. I mean when I was Morgan Gilliam: especially equipped. Erin Ribic: on the board for USA Powerlifting, which would have been like two thousand three to six maybe is when I was the secretary. I mean the membership we probably had twenty five hundred members in all of USA powerlifting at that time. So it just the I don't think any organization anticipated the the growth and the speed of growth that it that it happened. Chris Gilliam: yeah. I I I thought I seen that you were secretary for there for a little bit. so yeah, you would have seen it at the national level, like maybe start to spike while you were doing that. Okay. which Morgan Gilliam: Thank Erin Ribic: Just starting. Yeah, just just starting. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, I understand that. That's cool. Morgan? Morgan Gilliam: Yeah, I mean, guess I, cause I was kind of in this weird, like, most of my career was kind of like the old way of, know, what Aaron was around. And then the last like little bit of it was when we ended up implementing the JV division. So my junior and senior year, I believe, we had the JV division, but, I think if you would ask like seventh grade me, I would have been like, no, like I. you know, just because we had such little girls and like we were trying to get more girls to come out. But then I think if you would have asked me, like my freshmen, sophomore year, like, yeah, I definitely, definitely saw that coming just because our program was getting bigger. The schools around us, they were getting programs, even if they were little, but like you just saw like powerlifting showing up everywhere. and then yeah, the state meets were just getting bigger. They were taking longer. And so, so yeah, I definitely ended up seeing it coming, but probably not initially. Chris Gilliam: Sure. Yeah, just to give you some perspective, Aaron. So like I looked up, it was probably a year after you were out of high school. I seen an old like state scoring thing. And so there was like thirty six schools that participated throughout the state. this year we had seventy eight different schools represented at the state meet. Erin Ribic: Yeah, it was over not overnight, but like within a year or two it just exploded. It Chris Gilliam: Yeah. So I mean it's like it's one of those things where like it's just you know, some schools only have a handful of lifters still, but you know, we're getting more and more schools that have, you know, twenty boys, twenty girls. And we got some schools like they got twenty J V, twenty varsity for each gender. You know, it's it's getting you know, and there's more and more like that. Like you guys had a ton at your at your time. USAPL when you lifted everything was equipped then all as well, correct? Yeah, so the RAW didn't even exist in the USAPL. So I mean you guys were training equipped all the time, you know. So I think USAPL starting to steer towards RAW also helped kind of our association because we went completely raw after the two thousand seven season. We got rid of all equipment, so Erin Ribic: Yeah. I was trying to remember when we voted in the raw division. I mean that was and that was a that was a heated debate at that NGB of like what that meant. What are what is does raw allow knee wraps? Doesn't does it not allow does these do these sleeves count as you know, that was a pretty but that was probably around that might have been in like two thousand five or six that they had the first raw nationals and it was just a handful of people and then we know what happened with that ex getting bigger and bigger exponentially. So Morgan Gilliam: Yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, and I mean that's probably why their USAPL's numbers of you know, they're the largest one in the country. you know, 'cause w once you eliminate all the specialized equipment, it opens it up for a lot more people. You know. Erin Ribic: Yeah, it takes all the barriers out of costs or just I mean, I need I always needed help. You always have to have somebody to come pull straps up or, you know. it just makes it easier. Chris Gilliam: Sure. Well Morgan Gilliam: Yeah, it's, it's hard to train in equipment if you don't have like a village literally. Cause when I was in college, we had an equipped team and then a raw team. And I mean, I learned how to wrap people's needs just so I could help people at practice or like that worked out with me or at meets. So it takes a village. Chris Gilliam: yeah. So with the rise of platforms like Instagram and TikTok, I'm not sure. Aaron, you're closer to like us than than Morgan is. Like, you know, women's powerlifting because of those platforms, let's be honest, has gained massive visib visibility. how do you think social media has changed the blueprint for young girls getting into the sport today compared to when you competed err Aaron? Erin Ribic: Mm-hmm. gosh, I mean we didn't have any of that. I mean, Facebook didn't even come along till I was in college. So, you really just read about it in Powerlifting USA magazine if you saw pictures. so that's where even just yeah, there wasn't much visibility at all. I mean, you would get pe you would get wives or daughters who would come watch their dads lift in a meet and maybe get interested in it, but there wasn't that was most people's way in. I think just having it available where everyone can see there's a lot of people doing it definitely. Like you said, increasing visibility and Chris Gilliam: Yeah, I mean so you didn't you you didn't obtain information about powerlifting unless you were kinda already in the sport, right? 'Cause you'd want Erin Ribic: Right, and then you had to go find the old forums where people used to argue all the time, and that was the only way. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, for sure. yeah. And in in our state, Coach Whitaker, that would she's probably referring to like Live and stuff like that 'cause they used to have Friday night Titans for football and they had all these different forums where the kids would talk crap and even the the communities. So that good old days. How about you, Morgan? You're you're more up the TikTok and Instagram era. Like do you think Chris Whittaker: The T nation. Morgan Gilliam: That's funny. Yeah. Yeah. Chris Gilliam: Do you think that that's part of why there's been a spike or? Morgan Gilliam: I mean, it can be, mean, anytime you're able to get information out to more people, I mean, it makes it more accessible, right? It's easy to like look up something now and be like, SBD is where I should get knee sleeves or like, this is the website for this. it's, you know, unless like Erin was saying magazines, you know, is where she got it from. So, unless like you're around that, but now you can just look it up. or. find somebody online that does it, it's easier to find like coaches if you don't have one in your area and stuff like that. So yeah, I absolutely think it contributes to the larger participation, especially in our state. Chris Gilliam: Good. All right, coach. Chris Whittaker: Next one, next category, transitioning after high school. So we know a little bit 'cause Morgan shared with us already that she transitioned into collegiate powerlifting. Aaron, did you continue to compete post high school or did high school kinda stop your run there? Erin Ribic: No, I continued. I actually so at the time there were very few collegiate programs. Louisiana Tech, Louisiana State, any others, maybe? I mean, there were a few teams. There were not many. And I actually looked at going to Louisiana Tech for a while. I mean, I was I almost went there. but it was just a little far from home for me. But it yeah, I so I continued on. what happened after high school though? You lose your high school coach and the high school structure and all of that, and I ended up through USA powerlifting got Chris Gilliam: I text the thing, Erin Ribic: to become really good friends with Priscilla Ribbick and I married her brother and then Larry Maley and was so I was a part of the Alaskan Iron Maidens after high school is the team that I trained with. So but that was, you know, Larry emailing us workouts and me videoing and us trying to figure out how to email videos to each other because the technology just wasn't that easy. And we did it all remotely and then we would meet up at meets and we'd do training camps together a couple times a year where we would all fly coincidentally enough spoke in. Washington was kind of central so that the Alaska people could come down and then myself and a gal from Minnesota and somebody from Donna Marts is still around from kind of Idaho, Wyoming. It was kind of a central location. So we would get together once or twice a year for a training camp, which was just us getting together to train together for a weekend. But so I did, yeah, I competed through undergrad. I kinda lost it during grad school for PT school. It was just a lot. but competed my last time I competed was at women's nationals in 2017. So and I still knew how to do it. So Chris Gilliam: Yeah, and I I see that you you eventually did a raw meet or two, correct? Erin Ribic: A couple, yeah, I tried it. I like my knee wraps. Morgan Gilliam: What'd think? Chris Gilliam: Now your cup of tea. Morgan Gilliam: No! Chris Gilliam: Good for you. Yep. I understand that. That's good. Erin Ribic: Yeah. Chris Whittaker: Any consideration of coming out of retirement here? Erin Ribic: I don't know. I mean I still wait train fairly off and on. I'll get back in and and out of the gym. I've got a crabby hip from from being a silly girl with trying to do wide leg deadlifts at one point in my life and so when I start training heavy again things start getting a little ornery but I don't know if I'd compete again, but I'll o I will always lift. I mean that's just part of part of me. Chris Whittaker: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, well eventually you you're you get in a different category than the open, right? And then the the the play Yeah, the playing field levels off again, you know. Erin Ribic: I would be I'm an one. I'm an one. Yeah. Morgan Gilliam: Dang! Chris Gilliam: How about you, Morgan? Chris Whittaker: Morgan, tell us about your college time. Morgan Gilliam: Yeah. So, um, I'll do my best. So I, uh, when I finished, uh, high school of 2018 is when I graduated, I went on to Midland university and, Fremont, Nebraska and got trained under, uh, Tim Anderson. So, um, yeah. So competed collegiately there for four years. And then, um, yeah, the last meet that I did was in 2024. So that's the last time I've competed. plan on competing again. I still want to try and make it to the Arnold. So yeah. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, summer idea. Yeah, so w speaking of scholarships, there there was Aaron said there's a cup maybe a couple schools known for powerlifting. Yeah, and Morgan is like you know, that's when powerlifting scholarships were were kind of starting at the college level. there's only three that we're aware of 'cause most of the other schools were running as clubs. So like you could go to Ohio State and other schools and be on their club, but you know Morgan Gilliam: Yes, mine was a scholarship. So, I did get a scholarship for powerlifting. Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: you're still funding yourself to go to these meets. The scholarships, they're paying you to come to school. They're paying for your meets. They're paying for your equipment. makes a big difference and change and stuff. now Morgan Gilliam: Right. Yeah, and what was special about... go ahead. Sorry. Chris Gilliam: and and just now we have Davenport University, Aaron, within our own state, Northwood University in our own state. They're both giving out scholarships for powerlifting. Lots changed even since Morgan competed. Erin Ribic: Yeah, I think Louisiana Tech, like, it was a club sport, but they what they could offer was if you you were coming as a power lifter, they would waive the out of state tuition. Like that was the so your best bet was to try to get some kind of academic scholarship to at least but yeah, that was Billy Jack Talton was able to kind of talk the college in at that point to giving him something he could offer to help him recruit, but Chris Gilliam: Sure. Yeah. I I can relate. Erin Ribic: Yeah, that was the Chris Gilliam: Yeah. So when when you competed post high school, did you compete at a collegiate nationals or did you just do meets? Erin Ribic: I did collegiate nationals I think once. It the the calendar got really crazy. it got crazy with having to go to open nationals to qualify there. junior nationals was another option for junior lifters and collegiates. and just with with how the calendar lined up with those plus the international meets, you really had to make some decisions or you'd be competing twelve times a year, which isn't super good idea. So Morgan Gilliam: Yeah, it's a lot. They're all really close together, or were anyways. Erin Ribic: Yeah. So I did do collegiates. Yeah, I did do collegiates one year. I think I needed to do it. I think Tina Carter was kinda the other ninety-seven pounder my age and I think I forget what order they were in, but if the first meet happened you could you could win your international spot by going to the second meet and and beating that total. So I think I had to go one year to kinda s make sure that mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: Sure, no, that's understandable. Yeah, y we kinda learned through the process with Morgan, like she after so long she her goal was to be on the US national team and compete at Worlds. So w we realized we had to go to the raw national meet. so she gave up volleyball her senior year of high school because it was during like the beginning of October and she's gonna have to be gone, so Morgan Gilliam: Mm-hmm. Chris Gilliam: She went there and finished second, but it she did well enough with her Wilkes score at the time that they invited her to be on the sub junior national team. So she she had that, you know, goal and she made it happen. But, you know, I think over time everybody, you know, it's growing so much like these guys coaches are seeing them at all these and everything's streamed now too. So I don't know that they necessarily need to see you in person anymore. Erin Ribic: Nice. Yeah. Chris Gilliam: But it doesn't hurt. Morgan Gilliam: The live stream is helpful. Chris Gilliam: Yeah. I I mean these things are live streamed now and it's pretty cool. So before we go on, I I'm getting off here, Coach Whitaker, a bit, but was Geno around when you were lifting? Erin Ribic: when I was. no, the first time I got to hear Gino say my name was in 2017. Well he might have come he might have yeah, you know, he may have come 'cause I did compete to qualify for nationals in Washington. I mean there there may have been a meet along the way that he was at, but yeah, no, that was not at all during my time. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Chris Gilliam: Okay, gotcha. All right, I wasn't sure. Morgan Gilliam: my gosh! Chris Gilliam: Sure. Yeah, he he's like a staple announcer, Coach Whitaker at the USA CL Big Me. Morgan Gilliam: yeah. Chris Whittaker: yeah. I know. Erin Ribic: No, he came out, we hosted Raw Nationals here in twenty eighteen and he was out for all four days for us. Okay. Chris Gilliam: Yeah, Morgan would have been at that meet. That would have been her first meet at Midland University that she competed at. Yeah. So first meet of hers I wasn't at. Had to watch it on the live stream. That's crazy. No, that that's cool. So going back my first time watching her lift c collegiately, there was one college they had a ton of spirit, but they were annoying because they rung these damn cowbells all the time. Morgan Gilliam: Yep. Yep. That's funny. Erin Ribic: It was it was bonkers. Morgan Gilliam: Yeah. Chris Gilliam: Do you remember a school doing that when you competed at all? Erin Ribic: Was that Louisi was that Louisiana Tech? Chris Gilliam: I think it was Louisiana Monroe. ULM, because that's what they would chant. ULM, ULM, and they're just these cowbells the whole time during awards and stuff. I'm just like, holy smokes, we can't even hear their names. But everybody said, they're always like this. It's just a staple. I'm like, my lord. I hope they don't get too many more medals down the road. Because this is loud and obnoxious. Erin Ribic: Okay. Mm-hmm. Shit. Chris Gilliam: But it was yeah, it was different atmosphere. But they had some spirit, I can tell you that. Chris Whittaker: There you have it, folks. That's part one. If you enjoyed this, please give us a like and a share. Push us out there. Let other people hear it. Share it with your friends. And we'll see you back on Thursday for part two of this interview with Morgan Gillam and Aaron Ribbick.