Since graduating from Southeastern Louisiana, Ethan McMullan has been relaxing at home looking for his first job out of college.
This past week, McMullan went to the Choctaw Indian Fair to take in a stickball game when he saw an advertisement for the Iron Warrior competition.
McMullan decided to enter the competition because “it looked like it would be fun.”
Not only did McMullan have fun, he won the event, which featured displays of strength and speed.
“It was the first time I had done any of that kind of stuff in a competition,” McMullan said. “I was at a stickball game and saw it on the Jumbotron and thought it looked fun and signed up. The only thing I had never done was the stones and pulling the truck. I had pretty much done everything else.”
The competition combined a variety of events such as a dead lift, tire flip, stone pickup, farmer carries with I-beams, sled push, tire flips, telephone pole flip and then a truck pull.
“I was just doing it for fun but when I got there, I found out there was a $500 cash prize so I decided to take it a little serious,” McMullan said. “There was a qualifying event the day before and I was the top qualifier so I thought I had a good chance. I didn’t really go into it expecting anything or knowing anything about that kind of competition.”
While McMullan said he had never done anything like the Iron Warrior competition. McMullan said his experience in college football helped him with the competition. After graduating from Newton County, McMullan played for two years at East Central and eventually plays two years on the offensive line at Southeastern Louisiana.
“I think my football background definitely helped me out,” McMullan said. “I have flipped a lot of tires in my lifetime and pushed a lot of sleds. And I have done several of the other things that were in the competition. I liked that it wasn’t all about strength or about speed but a combination of both of them.”
McMullan said it was his first-ever such competition but will not be his last. He said he will defend his title next year and will look for more competitions in the future.
“I was familiar with competitions like that but had never done one,” McMullan said. “I had watched them on YouTube and knew something about them. But I haven’t worked out since I graduated. I’ve lost about 20 pounds but have just been relaxing here at home. It was a fun experience.”
Since graduating, McMullan said he is now getting ready to move to Hattiesburg and put his mechanical engineering degree to use.
