Pound for pound, sophomore Rylee Ladd is as strong as it gets. She proved that this April while underneath the brightest of spotlights. Not once, but twice Ladd stood atop the bench press platform with her arms raised in jubilation at the 2024 USA Powerlifting Collegiate National Championships. Patriotically-dressed hype man Geno Biancheri ensured that the assembled crowd at the Georgia International Convention Center understood the gravity of the moment.
Weighing in at 52 kilograms (114 pounds), Ladd became the female national collegiate bench press record holder in her weight class. The 5-foot-1 rising star shattered the former record by 7.5 kilograms with a bench press of 92.5 kilograms – or 204 pounds. That’s right, she benches nearly twice her body weight.
“I’ve been working for that national record for a couple of years now, so it was insane to finally break that,” Ladd said. “(Head Coach) Freddie (Myles) and I tried at the last competition, and I couldn’t quite get it. As we moved forward, it was like, ‘oh my gosh, I hit this in practice.’ It’s going to be there on comp day, and I’m going to break that record. It was amazing to finally accomplish that goal.”
Ladd uses the word “finally,” but this is only her second season of collegiate competition. Myles says that Ladd is considerably ahead of schedule when it comes to her progress as a lifter. Not only an American collegiate record holder in the bench press, Ladd placed as the 52 kg national runner up in Georgia while soaring upward as compared to her 19th place national finish in 2023. Ladd’s remarkable sophomore season also included a title at the Central Collegiate Regional Championships and the honor of Best Female Lifter at the Husker Strong Meet.
Just a few years ago, Ladd didn’t think she would be competing in powerlifting on the collegiate level. It simply wasn’t on her radar considering the relative obscurity of the sport, but it was meant to be. She tried wrestling, cross country and volleyball, and competitive trap shooting, but powerlifting is “her thing.” Ladd encountered Myles following the Wisconsin state powerlifting competition her junior year. Myles had set up a booth to promote a soon-to-be brand-new program at Concordia. The connection made that day set in motion a recruiting process that led to a campus visit.
Said the Wisconsin state champion Ladd, “Overall, it was the atmosphere that Freddie brought and the professor that I met. It felt like they really cared about me, and Freddie was really excited about the program. I thought Freddie as a coach was going to be amazing. He really cares about the people he coaches. He doesn’t see you as an athlete. He sees you as a person. I think that’s really helped me grow.”
Ladd began to lay the groundwork for future powerlifting success during her upbringing in northwest Wisconsin. Her father Jeff used to bring her along to his own bench press competitions. His influence eventually got Ladd hooked on the idea of lifting heavy weights. Just in time for the start of Ladd’s prep career, her high school (Cameron High School) adopted a powerlifting team. Ladd helped popularize the sport at Cameron, which saw its powerlifting team explode from eight members her freshman year to three times that many her junior year. As a senior, Ladd won a state championship, broke state records for bench press and total (combined bench, squad and deadlift) and competed at the national championships.
Myles was about to add a significant recruit, exactly the type he was looking for as the program’s foundation was being built. Beyond the athletic accolades, Ladd would be bringing with her an outgoing personality and a desire to learn in the area of Environmental Science. The first thing that struck Ladd about Concordia was the caring nature she saw in both Myles and Dr. Jennifer Fruend. The fit just felt right. The chance to impact a new program also greatly appealed to Ladd.
Since day one, Myles has never had to worry about the work ethic of Ladd. Says Myles, “She’s doing a lot of extra workouts on her own. She puts everything into the sessions. She’s very conscientious with what she does outside of training, like what she puts in her body and getting sleep. She’s really focused on her technique. I knew she could get to bigger numbers, it just happened faster than I thought. That’s a testament to her being so conscientious of everything she does.”
Myles says Ladd was benching roughly 70 kilograms at the time she entered the program. That was already an impressive figure considering Ladd’s stature. The major gains Ladd has made over the past two years are a credit to not only her work ethic, but also the strict regimen Myles has helped design for her. It’s an incredible challenge for anyone to maintain a low body weight of 52 kg while also putting up the totals Ladd achieved at the national championships: 92.5 kg in the bench, 132.5 kg in the squat and 145 kg in the deadlift.
Explains Ladd of the process that yields such results, “Freddie sets it up in blocks. It’s about a month of working up to a max day and then we kind of restart, depending on when the competition is. He programs it all out so that we’re not fatiguing ourselves too often but so that we have a good grasp of what we can do when we get to that competition date. With a weight cut like I was doing – I might be able to hit that number in practice – but when I get to a competition, my strength is going to be affected. If I can hit this big number in practice, how much strength am I going to lose on competition day in my lower weight class? I think we work really well together in managing my weight so I can hit really high numbers. I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what I did without Freddie’s programming and support.”
Like any other sport, there’s also a mental aspect that factors into the equation. Positive thinking is a powerful piece of Ladd’s overall training. She’s not lacking confidence when it’s her time to take center stage.
“I do so much positive self-talk as I’m stepping onto that stage,” Ladd said while walking through her experience at the national championships. “I’m walking around in the back right like, ‘put it up, you’ve done it before. Do it again.’ It’s so much positive self-talk so when I get out there, I’m 100 percent confident I’m going to hit that lift. As soon as I heard that press command, there was no doubt in my mind that bar was going to go up and I was going to get that record. It’s so exciting. I genuinely couldn’t believe that I got it. Then I had one more chance, so it was like, let’s do it again. It’s unbelievable.”
So many accomplishments, so soon for someone who admittedly didn’t know what she was doing when she began powerlifting in high school. Competitors like Ladd are always hungry for more, as if the past never occurred. After all, there is room for improvement. She won’t be satisfied with placing second at the 2025 national championships. It’s that thought that will stay with her as she closes out her sophomore year academically.
“It’s definitely boosted my confidence a little bit,” said Ladd of the national record. “It’s kind of got me back on track. Second place is great. I’m very happy with how my work has paid off, but second place really sits in your mind. How am I going to beat that next year? I can’t go down. It’s pushing me to consider how I’m going to work harder and really push myself so I can win that title next year.”
There are no limits on what can happen when an athlete like Ladd finds herself immersed within an atmosphere suited to emphasize and expand her talents.
Unprompted, Ladd offered, “There’s a personal touch with Concordia. The amount of care the professors and athletics offers you – you’re not just a number. You’re a person. You’re a student. I really enjoy being an Environmental Science major. There are a lot of opportunities here as a student. I also enjoy going to a Lutheran school. When I came here, I did not have a strong faith. Concordia has really offered that to me and brought me into my faith and my relationship with God.”