Powerlifter strives to "conquer every lift"
Scott Sciaretta stands in front of his competition-level bars and the many medals he had won during his powerlifting career. The picture over his right shoulder shows him breaking the world record for his age group in the squat. (Max Dupras/Leader)
Scott Sciaretta and his son, Scott, are seen standing at their first meet competing together. Sciaretta's son is the one who helped encourage his passion for powerlifting.
After Scott Sciaretta suffered a heart attack, he had to change his health habits. Now, he is a world-record powerlifter who hopes to grow the sport across the state of Montana.
Sciaretta is a 62-year-old Montana resident hailing from New Jersey and is currently a detective at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office specializing in narcotics and overdose investigations.
He has been in the force since 2010 and loves his job, but in 2012, while working, he suffered a heart attack that required stents to help open pathways in the cavity of his heart. This sudden health issue led to him reevaluating his life.
“At that point in time, it was ‘okay, you need to clean up your life,’” Sciaretta said. “‘You need to clean up your fitness and get off of the nighttime Town Pump food and start eating correctly and going to the gym more regularly.’ So that's what I did.”
Sciaretta started going to the gym more and, around 2017, was starting to suffer small injuries while working out. This led him to confide in his son, also named Scott, who was an avid powerlifter at the time.
“He said, ‘You're not being coached by anybody,” Sciaretta recalled. “‘You're just lifting weights and your form is all wrong and you're doing everything incorrectly.’”
His son took him to his first powerlifting meet in 2018 in Kalispell, where he would go on to meet his trainer Donny Tudahl.
From there, he skyrocketed to powerlifting stardom by dominating across his age group.
He has competed across the country, attending two world and national competitions, in which he won his age group. He even set a world record in the North American Championship in St. Louis, Mo.
He has not stopped competing and has learned to ref in powerlifting.
“First of all, you have to actually compete in a powerlifting competition so that you're not just somebody that just wants to be official and you know nothing about the sport,” Sciaretta said. “You actually have to know how to do the lift and how to do it correctly.”
Three types of officials can officiate different levels of competition. Blue shirts can only referee state powerlifting events. Red shirts can do national-level competitions but first must put in a lot of time at state competitions.
The top official is the grey shirt, who can ref an international competition. This is the highest level of official and, once he gets his shirt, the final level of certification that Sciaretta can accomplish.
In addition to his success in powerlifting, Sciaretta has also seen success in his job. He earned 2022 Montana Deputy of the Year after successfully de-escalating a situation that involved a man threatening to harm himself.
This led to the Lake County Undersheriff Ben Woods nominating him for the award statewide award.
Sciaretta also receives lots of support from his coworkers for his weightlifting pursuits.
“So many people have come up to me asking ‘Hey Scott, did you just come back from a competition?’” Sciaretta said. “They're so supportive. It drives me.”
Now, he is expanding powerlifting across the state. From holding powerlifting events across the Mission Valley to empowering his wife, Tammy, to compete, Sciaretta wants to not only crush his former records but also show Montanans what powerlifting is like.
“You meet all walks of life, I'm telling you, you meet some great people,” Sciaretta said. “Everyone has their own different challenges and they fall into the powerlifting world and they find out what type of community it is.”
As Sciaretta looks to expand the game, he will also look to beat some records as he takes on the 60-64 Masters group, hoping not only to break his own records but to set new ones in events he has historically wanted to compete in.
Whether it is lifting with his wife or competing side by side with his son, Sciaretta has accomplished goals he never imagined with medals littering the walls of his personal gym and posters documenting his record-setting performances.
His gym is built into his garage at his home in Swan Lake and was constructed all by himself. It includes everything from a squat stand to competition-level bars to practice.
That support and motivation from the powerlifting community and his family help Sciaretta to continue to conquer every lift he can.
“I'm not saying I'd stop lifting if I didn't have the support, but it's that driving force that pushes you because you don't wanna disappoint anybody.”
