Middletown High School alumnus Sean Mullican recently participated in the USAPL West Virginia State Championship for Powerlifting, capturing two medals for his efforts.

Mullican took part in three events: squats, bench press, and deadlifts.  At the end of the April 17 competition, Mullican won two medals, the Junior Division 105 Kg Overall Total and the Open Division 105 Kg Weight Class Overall Total. He also won two “special awards” that the USAPL gives out: axes.  One was for “Pound-for-pound strongest lifter in the junior division of all weight classes” and “pound-for-pound strongest in the state.”

Points were calculated for the competition by adding up the weight of each successful rep for each competition.  Mullican scored 485 pounds for squat, 347 pounds for bench, and 551 pounds for deadlift, for a total score of 1,383 through each of the three events.

Mullican learned about the event because it was held at the place he works, Viking Performance Training in Morgantown, W.Va.  To prepare for the competition, Mullican said, “I lifted four days a week for eight weeks with my strength coach.”

Mullican was part of two divisions and he won both of the divisions.  “I was in the Junior age group which is 20 to 23 and the Open, which is the more competitive division for anyone and any age,”  Mullican said.

He does plan on participating in this type of competition again and plans to do so in July. For him it gives him “something to train towards now that wrestling is over,” he said.

His favorite part of the event was the deadlift competition. He hasn’t deadlifted since high school, so it was fun to do it again, he said. During the deadlift competition, it came down to the wire. One of the competitors had to lift 600 pounds to beat Mullican but could not, leaving Mullican as the winner.

Mullican attended West Virginia to wrestle for the Mountaineers wrestling team, but now that he is finished wrestling, he has found a new sport in which to compete.