The sky is the limit for local power lifter

For up to a week after a power lifting meet, Skyler Murray finds himself lying in bed and wrapped in ice packs while his muscles recover. But as soon as the pain subsides, he’s back in the gym.

“After a meet I’m just bed-ridden, I don’t want to do anything,” he said. “Sometimes I question myself where I’m like, ‘How did I end up getting into this?’ But the gym is like a second home for me now.”

Murray, who wrestled and played football for Aberdeen High School before graduating in 2017, found a new passion when he started powerlifting competitively in his senior year.

The athlete whose primary focus was football for most his high school athletic career caught the attention of North Beach’s weightlifting program when he posted a video on Instagram of a 605-pound squat.

After working with North Beach’s weight coach, Murray eventually became the lone member of Aberdeen’s weightlifting team as he began to dedicate himself to a new sport.

Murray’s mom, Christie Murray, initially had some safety concerns with the sport and acknowledged that it was unusual she wasn’t concerned watching her son play football but noted, “I never saw anyone take him down, it was always him doing that to other players.”

Murray picked up the sport on a whim less than a year ago and has found some early success. At the AAU World Power lifting Championships in Laughlin, Nevada last month, Murray walked away with a gold medal in his weight class with a 611-pound squat, 551-pound dead lit and bench press of 350.

Murray had established himself as a force on the mat and on the gridiron but making the long trip from southwest Washington to Nevada to win gold tops the list of his sports accomplishments.

“I’ve won games and matches in football and wrestling, but winning that (power lifting) gold was special,” he said. “It was great to have that individual accomplishment after all the work I put in.”

Getting the funding together to make the trip was a lot of work in itself. Since the funding to make the trip wasn’t immediately available, Skyler and his mom worked on fundraising projects months ahead of the trip. A go fund me page generated over $1,000 to go along with the money raised when the family hosted a car wash and bake sale.

Murray still gets emotional when he reflects on the financial support he received from the community.

“People who I barely hung out with in high school were pitching in and giving whatever they could and I’m really grateful for everyone that helped out,” he said, wiping a tear from his eye. “I always strive to be a great role model for the community and to have that many people supporting me shows how much they care. It’s amazing how many people want to see me succeed in life.”

Skyler Murray’s coach is also optimistic about the young power lifter’s future. Don Bell, who works with him out of the Timber Gym in Aberdeen, will be guiding him as Murray looks to make the transition from the AAU circuit to tougher competition in the United States Power Lifting Association.

Bell knows it’ll take a lot of work to get his trainee to where he needs to be, but thinks Skyler has the tools needed to get to the next level.

“He’s strong and he’s got a lot of potential,” Bell said. “He’s talented but he also takes suggestions well and is really coachable. For me, being able to take what coaches say and apply it is the most important skill and he has it.”

Though he jokes about wanting to join the World’s Strongest Man competitions, Murray, who attends Grays Harbor College and hopes to teach physical education in the future, is still enjoying the intensity of his new-found passion.

“That’s what I love about the sport, you’re always going hard,” he said. “You can’t give 90 or 80 percent, you have to give 100 percent every time you go out.”