She’s 5-foot-4 inches, 135-pounds with long blond hair; not the image most people see when they think of a powerlifter. However, Jan Morello is making people take her serious and change their impression of powerlifters.
She is the current collegiate national powerlifting champion and the junior (18-24 yr. olds) national champion.
“When people think of powerlifting, they think of big, thick girls,” said Morello. “I kind of had that impression at the beginning.”
Morello said the usual response is “you’re a powerlifter?” But not only is she a powerlifter, she’s the collegiate record holder in the squat and the teenage record holder in the total (squat, bench press, and deadlift).
Morello, an LSU sophomore, is a Baton Rouge native and graduate of Bishop Sullivan High School. She played sports all her life and originally started weightlifting to improve her strength for basketball and track.
She realized she really enjoyed weightlifting, so she joined the Bishop Sullivan powerlifting team where she was coached by world-renowned powerlifter, Gary Frank. Morello said Frank really inspired her to continue in powerlifting.
Morello said her parents have been really supportive through the years, even though her mom is concerned about the risk of injury.
“My mom goes to all the local meets,” she said.
Morello is one of ten women from the United States who will be traveling to Poland for the World Championships in September. She qualified for the event by winning the junior national championships in January.
“It’s really a great opportunity,” said Morello, who’s excited about competing against the top powerlifters around the world, such as the Russian team.
She said she’s also excited about going out of the country for the first time.
Morello will step up her training for the world championships in May. She said her training will be “more focused”.
Morello is one of only three girls on the LSU powerlifting team. She said the team lost a lot of members during the year due to problems finding a place to train.
“The team switched to Bayou Fitness while waiting for a room in the Rec center,” she said. “We lost a lot of people then because transportation was a problem.”
Now the Rec center has provided a room for the powerlifting team, which head coach Arval Bridges said he hopes to fill with new equipment.
Despite the problems during the season, the team came out third overall at the National Championships.
“We were so glad [to win third],” Morello said. “The people who did stick with it did so well.”
Morello trained on her own for six months but said she enjoys lifting with the team.
“Lifting with the team has really helped me out,” she said. “I couldn’t ask for a better group of people. They’re really supportive at meets.”
According to LSU powerlifting president, Kenneth Reynolds, Morello has been an asset to the team.
“She’s really friendly,” Reynolds said. “She’s quick to help teammates.”
Reynolds said he realized Morello’s talent when he went with the team to recruit her in high school.
“She was awesome,” he said. “She stood out.”
Even though Morello came into the club an experienced powerlifter, Reynolds said she trained harder than the other girls and many of the guys.
“She’s very intense,” Reynolds said. “She’s the first one to get to practice and the last one to leave.”