CRANBERRY TWP — Who are the strongest in the land?

A regional Olympic Weightlifting Championship meet Saturday at Beyond Parallel Strength & Fitness in Cranberry Township may make that determination. Weightlifters will be coming in from Ohio, West Virginia and other parts of Pennsylvania to compete.

“We’ve got 17 female and 16 males who will be competing,” said Laura Prosser, president of the Beyond Parallel Barbell Club. “Medals will be given to the top three in both divisions.”

Depending on the amount of weight lifted, winners may qualify for national events as well.

Saturday’s event begins at 9 a.m. and will end at approximately 1:30 p.m. Weightlifters will compete in the snatch and the clean-and-jerk. USA Weightlifting, located at the USA Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, is the national governing body of the sport and is sanctioning Saturday’s event.

Each lifter will add the best of three snatch lifts — a one-motion lift in which the bar travels from the ground to directly over the lifter’s head — and the best of three clean-and-jerks — two-motion lift from the ground to the lifter’s shoulders, then overhead.

“Weight never comes off the bar,” Prosser emphasized. “When each competitor weighs in, he or she reports what his or her opener (weight on the bar) will be.

“The lifter starting with the least weight on the bar goes first. The competition continues in order of the initial weight on the bar.”

Winners will be determined through a formula that takes into account the amount of weight lifted and the physical size and weight of the competitor.

Prosser said competitors will range from youths through people in their 40s.

“In our case, the males will be competing as a group as will the females,” she said. “That will make for some interesting competition.”

Area competitors will include Eric Hilliard, 38 and Ali Restelli, 23, of Cranberry Township, along with Seneca Valley High School student Dan Loeffler, 16, and Kody Helbig, 24, of Freedom.

A portion of the proceeds from the meet will be donated to the Cranberry Cup, whose beneficiary this year is the family of Jordan Majcan.

Majcan was severely injured in an automobile accident in November of 2015.