A few students decided to spend Friday afternoon flipping tires, pushing trucks and testing their strength.

The third annual Strong Cat Competition gave students the opportunity to compete against each other in five different strength events: tire flip, truck pull, truck push, farmer’s walk and overhead throw.

Corey Guidi, a senior business marketing major, competed in the farmer’s walk, an event that consists of carrying a pair of heavy metal bars loaded with weights along a 50-foot course.

The farmer’s walk is an intense cardio workout, so it was pretty difficult, Guidi said.

Guidi chose to compete because he figured it would be a fun way to spend a Friday afternoon.

“I like the competition,” Guidi said. “I haven’t competed in a sport since high school, so it keeps me young and energetic.”

Alma Ruelas, a criminal justice major, competed in the truck pull event. For the truck pull, Ruelas was seated as she pulled a Toyota truck toward her over a 50-foot distance with a rope.

Ruelas said she loves to work out and enjoys the challenge of competition. Living across the street from the WREC helped her prepare for the event.

Matt Hurst, a junior exercise physiology major, has been training to compete in power lifting for a year. He competed in the truck push event where he had to push a Ford F-350 along a 50-foot course in the fastest time.

The truck push consists of using pure strength to push a truck backwards.

“The hardest part was breaking the inertia of the truck, but once I got going, I finished pretty well,” Hurst said.

For the tire flip event, competitors had to flip tractor tires for 50 feet in the fastest amount of time. For the overhead throw, competitors launched a medicine ball from the squat position for the farthest distance.

Sharon Martin can be reached at [email protected] or @SharonBMartin on Twitter.