Just waking up from a long winter’s nap…

Is it my imagination or has there been an unheard-of game of musical chairs taking place in the lineups for the Ms., Fitness and Figure International competitions since the invites came out in December? I’ve been having a little R&R from the P&C desk (and only occasionally checking the headlines at hardbody.com), but it was hard not to notice when the women started dropping like flies—that is, dropping out of or into the pro lineups for the big Columbus, Ohio, weekend known as the Arnold Sports Festival, which is set for March 4 through 7.

So much for the notion that nothing happens during the off-season. When I heard the other day via the girlfriend express that Tonie Thompson (pictured here) had been added to the Ms. I list, it was time to get back to work.

Most of the withdrawals were due to injuries or other health issues. The ladies who had to pass were all key contenders—defending champ Jen Hendershott and Tracey Greenwood in fitness, Heather Armbrust in bodybuilding and Kristal Richardson and Jessica Putnam in figure. That said, I would be remiss not to point out that the three sitting Olympia champs—Iris Kyle, Adela Garcia and Nicole Wilkins Lee— are all still Columbus bound and dieting.

Recently invited to join the fun onstage in Ohio by ASF promoter Jim Lorimer were three athletes who I’m guessing came close to making the cut originally: Thompson in women’s bodybuilding, Cristiana Cassoni in figure and Bethany Wagner in fitness. They’re all wonderful choices, and I look forward to seeing them onstage at the judging on Friday morning, March 5, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

The accompanying photo of Tonie is one I saved after the ’09 New York Pro, and I’m thrilled to have a chance to display it.

Here are the competitor lists, one month out:

Ms. International
Lisa Aukland
Dayana Cadeau
Iris Kyle
Debi Laszewski
Zoa Linsey
Mah-Ann Mendoza
Yaxeni Oriquen Garcia
Jeannie Paparone
Betty Pariso
Alina Popa
Brenda Raganot
Elena Shportun-Willemer
Antoinette Thompson
Dena Westerfield

Fitness International
Myriam Capes
Regiane Da Silva
Nicole Duncan
Tina Durkin
Allison Ethier
Adela Garcia
Oksana Grishina
Tanji Johnson
Julie Palmer
Kayde Puckett
Camala Rodriguez
Sylvia Tremblay
Kizzy Vaines
Bethany Wagner
Trish Warren

Figure International
Monica Brant
Cristiana Casoni
Krissy Chin
Alicia Harris
Candice Houston
Heather Mae French
Monica Mark-Escalante
Angela Mraz
Larissa Reis
Felicia Romero
Rosa-Maria Romero
Sherlyn Roy
Mindi Smith
Erin Stern
Kristi Tauti
Kim Tilden
Andrea Watson
Latisha Wilder
Nicole Wilkins Lee

The invites to the Ms., Fitness and Figure International competitions are out. Fourteen female bodybuilders, 16  fitness athletes and 20 figure competitors—including Olympia champions Iris Kyle, Adela Garcia and Nicole Wilkins-Lee—will be heading for Columbus, Ohio, for the weekend of March 4 through 7, 2010, along with a slew of other big names.

There will be lots more to say about these match-ups, part of the prestigious Arnold Sports Festival, in the weeks to come. (The men’s show—see below—is going to be huge!) For now, just 72 days before everybody’s favorite reason to go to Columbus begins, here are the athletes who got the physique world’s biggest holiday present this morning:

2010 Ms. International

1. Heather Armbrust
2. Lisa Aukland
3. Dayana Cadeau
4. Iris Kyle
5. Debi Laszewski
6. Zoa Linsey
7. Mah-Ann Mendoza
8. Yaxeni Oriquen Garcia
9. Jeannie Paparone
10. Betty Pariso
11. Alina Popa
12. Brenda Raganot
13. Elena Shportun-Willemer
14. Dena Westerfield

2010 Fitness International

1. Myriam Capes
2. Regiane Da Silva
3. Nicole Duncan
4. Tina Durkin
5. Allison Ethier
6. Adela Garcia
7. Tracey Greenwood
8. Oksana Grishina
9. Jennifer Hendershott
10. Tanji Johnson
11. Julie Palmer
12. Kayde Puckett
13. Camala Rodriguez
14. Sylvia Tremblay
15. Kizzy Vaines
16. Trish Warren

2010 Figure International

1. Monica Brant
2. Krissy Chin
3. Alicia Harris
4. Candice Houston
5. Heather Mae French
6. Monica Mark-Escalante
7. Angela Mraz
8. Jessica Putnam
9. Larissa Reis
10. Kristal Richardson
11. Felicia Romero
12. Rosa-Maria Romero
13. Sherlyn Roy
14. Mindi Smith
15. Erin Stern
16. Kristina Tauti
17. Kim Tilden
18. Andrea Watson
19. Latisha Wilder
20. Nicole Wilkins Lee

2010 Arnold Classic

1. Melvin Anthony
2. Tarek Elsetouhi
3. Toney Freeman
4. Kai Greene
5. Phil Heath
6. Dexter Jackson
7. Johnnie Jackson
8. Robert Piotrkowicz
9. Ronny Rockel
10. Silvio Samuel
11. Sergey Shelestov
12. Branch Warren
13. Roelly Winklaar
14. Hidetada Yamagishi

Is it too soon to talk about the Arnold? It can’t be because a couple of days ago Helen Yu out at the IRON MAN office sent e-mail confirmation of my reservation for the Doubletree Guest Suites in Columbus, Ohio, on March 4 through 7, 2010. Sure, I know the invites to the athletes for the Ms., Fitness and Figure International competitions—as well as those for the Arnold Classic—won’t be out for a week or two (they don’t call ’em the physique world’s favorite stocking stuffers for nothing), but I’ve been thinking about the big weekend in Ohio every since the IFBB Pro League announced its schedule for next year in late October.

Talk about surprised. If I had a nickel for every new or switching-from-figure bikini pro who said to me last summer or in early fall that she’d be putting in for an invite to the “Bikini International,” I’d have bus fare (including transfer) to the actual first-ever IFBB pro-bikini competition, which as of today will take place on March 27 in Culver City, California, in conjunction with Jon Lindsay’s NPC MuscleContest ’10 Championships. Though I can think of a few people who were probably in the know on this subject, the presumption that pro bikini would have it’s birth in Columbus was so prevalent that most folks were caught off-guard. That included me, although I had to chuckle. If Jim Lorimer and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had decided to wait a bit on pro bikini for the prestigious Arnold Sports Festival, perhaps there was hope for civilization. Besides, I know how much Jim prides himself that the shows are really international competitions, and the amateur bikini division is not a world-wide development so far in the IFBB. The majority of the new pros are from the USA, with just a couple coming from Canada.

Turns out pro bikini just wasn’t in the budget for the ASF. “Financially, it’s another $30,000 in prize money alone,” said Lorimer when I spoke with him last month. He added that he and his team are expecting athletes from 60 nations competing in more than 40 events, including 12 Olympic sports, in 2010. (Already added to the program this year are amateur strongman, amateur mixed martial arts, skateboarding and figure skating.)

So it’s also an issue of scheduling. As Jim said, “We already have three women’s shows.”

Bikini is on the schedule of the IFBB Amateur Arnold, where, he said, “We’ll be monitoring it to see how it goes.”

Fair enough, Jim, and in the meantime I’ll be monitoring the competition for those stocking stuffers mentioned above. According to the News section at ArnoldSportsFestival.com, the winners of the four pro competitions will receive, in addition to the prize money and other goodies, a bronze body sculpture of their physique, presented by Eaglewood Sculpts of Imlay City, Michigan. Just a little something to hang on the wall. Nice.

Check back here in a couple of weeks to find out which ladies will be headed to Columbus in March.

Photo: How many of these bikini class winners from the ’09 NPC Nationals will make their debuts at the MuscleContest Pro Bikini Championship on March 27? Come to think of it, holding the first pro-bikini competition in Cali, just a few miles from Muscle Beach, makes perfect sense. From left: Trina Goosby, Erica Reder, Alea  Suarez, Tianna Ta, Jessica Anderson and Stefanie Lindsey.

For the record, the IFBB Pro League’s 2010 schedule includes 11 pro-bikini-contests dates plus one  projected show in New Zealand, date to be announced, that would probably take place earlier in March than the Culver City event. For info on the MuscleContest event, click here.

The NPC National Bodybuilding, Figure and Bikini Championships, which took place this weekend, November 20 and 21, in Hollywood, Florida, produced an exceptionally good-looking crop of winners in the women’s divisions. I say exceptionally because the big two Ss—symmetry and stage presence—took the spotlight across the board, with shining stars-in-the-making emerging in women’s bodybuilding as well as figure and bikini. Take a look at new the new National Overall champs—heavyweight  Kris Murrell in bodybuilding, E-classer Mindy Smith in figure and E-classer Jessica Anderson in bikini—and see if you don’t agree.

Astoundingly, there were 73 women bodybuilders at the annual Steve Karel–produced event. I say astoundingly because the women’s numbers at this show, which lingered in the 40s during the mid-to-late ’90s, going as low as 42 in 1997, have been creeping upward for the past few years. The speculation was that the introduction of bikini would lead to all the muscular stops being pulled out by the female flexers, but in fact the opposite has happened. Not only are the numbers growing, but the lineup at the Nationals was packed with newcomers who did not appear to be on course to become huge hunks of mass.

Credit the NPC for that. Perhaps not everyone has noticed, but the organization has made good on its promise of a few years back that it would henceforth be rewarding a more restrained approach to female muscularity—and the judges have stuck to their guns on the lower levels of competition as well as the pro qualifiers. Plus they’ve been quietly encouraging women who have proved a bit too muscular for figure to transition into bodybuilding. The 73 women who got onstage in Florida, including quite a few who qualify as veteran flexers, reflected the favorable results of those efforts.

Murrell, who has a charismatic presence onstage and in front of a photographer’s lens, has been an if-she-could-only-come-in-sharper contender for three or four years. When I saw the heavyweight comparisons, with Kris and the potential-laden Monique Jones standing on either side of Amber DeFrancesco, I thought the judges would give it to Amber. After all, she was shredded, and she points her toe like a ballerina.

And I would have loved for Amber to win it—she’s from my hometown of Pittsburgh—but Murrell had truly brought it. The full muscles and improved conditioning everyone said Kris needed to win were present and accounted for, and I found myself hoping that her improvements and dues paid would carry the day. It’s always nice when the panel agrees with me. Amber, who appears destined for a pro card of her own sooner rather than later, had to settle for second.

The rest of the class winners were also symmetry-and-proportion-is-everything types. Middleweight Nicole Berg and light heavyweight Lisette Acevedo are newcomers to the pro-qualifying ranks, while lightweight winner Lori Steele is a former figure competitor. All got pro cards. It’s a trend I can live with.

Seventy-three bikini contestants and 183 figure entries (my count from the lists of those who actually got onstage) made this year’s Nationals one huge contest for the ladies. As I mentioned, the overall winners in those divisions were also stunners. Figure champ Mindy Smith earned the judges’ highest regard in only her second NPC contest, having qualified for the Nationals a few weeks ago at the NPC Sacramento. She’s hardly a newbie, however, having previously polished her presentation in the proverbial “other organization.”

Bikini victor Jessica Anderson started in figure but generated serious buzz when she switched to the new bikini division this year. Clearly, she’s got that special something, but she’s got something else as well—what we in the wacky world of physique competition call areally  good structure, a feature that not all the special-something ladies who qualified for the pros in bikini this year can claim.

IFBB pro cards went to the six height-class winners in figure and bikini. In figure they included, in addition to Smith, Kimberle Trowbridge (A-class), Kathleen Tesori (B), Ava Cowan (C), Taylor Gallagher (D) and Holly Beck (F). In bikini the group, was Tina Gosby (A), Erica Reder (B), Alea Suarez (C), Tianna Ta (D), Anderson and Stephanie Lindsey (F).

To find IronManMagazine.com gallery from the ’09 NPC National Bodybuilding, Figure and Bikini Championships, click here.

All photos by Roland Balik, @2009 www.ironmanmagazine.com (from top):

Kris Murrell brought it to Florida.

First callout for the heavies: Murrell, Amber DeFrancesco and Monique Jones.

Class winners Lori Steele, Nicole Berg and Lisette Acevedo.

Figure overall champ Mindy Smith had a fast ride to the IFBB pro ranks.

Bikini Overall champ Jessica Anderson has that special something—and I don’t just mean her  structure.

The 2009 IFBB pro season closed out in Kentucky last night, November 14, with Florida flower Cheryl Brown sewing up her first pro victory. A perfect  10 made Cheryl, who has softened up her physique and rounded up her shoulders since the photo below was taken, the unanimous winner of the three-year old contest. JulieAnn Kulla was the unanimous choice for second—a natural progression from their placings last week in Sacramento, where Cheryl was second and JulieAnn was fourth.

Earning the third-place Olympia qualification—and getting a jump on the new year for the second straight time at this show—was Teresa Anthony. Patricia Mello, third last year, dropped to fourth in this lineup of 20, while Terri Turner, looking fine, cracked the top five in her second pro appearance.

In case you’re counting, that makes 14 ladies who are already qualified for the 2010 Figure Olympia: Nicole Wilkins-Lee, Gina Aliotti, Heather Mae French, Kristal Richardson, Amy Fry, Erin Stern, Gennifer Strobo, Felicia Romero, Kristi Tauti, Krissy Chin and Huong Arcinas, plus Cheryl, JulieAnn Kulla and Teresa.

With 11 shows to go before Olympia time next year, what are the odds that list is going to grow, exponentially?

Find the complete results from Kentucky below.

Photos:

Brownie (top), who went from hot newcomer at the ’08 Figure Nationals to Olympia-qualified pro in a year, enjoys a well-deserved brownie.

Middle: Gaining polish onstage last summer.

Teresa Anthony (bottom) scored an invite in Kentucky for the second year running.

Kentucky Muscle Pro Figure Championship

1) Cheryl Brown*
2) JulieAnn Kulla*
3) Teresa Anthony*
4) Patricia Mello

5) Terri Turner

6) Sherlyn Roy
7) Ann Titone
8) Rosa-Marie Romero
9) Cristiana Casoni
10) Valerie Haines
11) Stephanie Billings
12) Tivisay Briceno
13) Natalie Calland
14) Stephanie Togrul
15) Rachel Cammon
16) Jessica Clay
16) Amy Lee Martin
16) Liane Siewald
16) Laura Sutter
16) Jennifer Toth

*Qualifies for 2010 Figure Olympia.

I’m looking at the comparison shots from the Sacramento Pro figure, held last Saturday, November 7, in the California capital,and  it’s easy to see why the scores were so very close: the top-five placers all looked very good. It’s also not difficult to see why Kristi Tauti, coming off a close runner-up placing to Felicia Romero at the Border States a couple of weeks ago, managed to eak out the win: She was just a little tighter than the others, and on Kristi, tighter is what works.

Still, the competition at the top was so tough that defending champ Huong Arcinas had to settle for third, making way for Kristi, who was sixth last year at this show, and newcomer Cheryl Brown who quarter-turned her way into the runner-up spot. (No surprises for this reporter there.) The judges certainly had a tough time—no one got a perfect score in either round, and four points separated Kristi, in her first-ever pro win, from fourth-placer JulieAnn Kulla in her return to the figure stage after a year’s layoff. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a string of close scores like that in which the winner was included (third through sixth is more usual).

For the record, Tauti got 24 points, Brownie got 25 and Huong and JulieAnn were locked at 26 before the tie-breaker rules were applied to award Huong the third Olympia qualification. Akane Nigro-Ismeal rounded out the top five, duplicating her result from the Border States. If I’d been there, I probably wouldn’t have complained if she’d finished higher.

Coming up on Saturday: The Kentucky Pro Figure, a.k.a. the very last pro show of the season. Expect some of the gals who came close at this one to join the gang on the East Coast for one last shot at an early Olympia qualification for 2010.

Find the complete results  from the Sac below.

Photos (from top):

Kristi Tauti held her condition from the Border States last month.

Cheryl Brown, here at the masters nationals last July, has been on the fast track all season—and what’s not to like? She qualified for the O in her second show.

Huong Arcinas positively glowed at the ’09 Figure Olympia, and now next year’s invite is taken care of. Good work.

JulieAnn Kulla, here in 2008, got plenty of buzz at the Sac—as in, a lot of folks thought she was going to win. Welcome back, JulieAnn!

’09 IFBB Sacramento Pro Figure Grand Prix

1) Kristi Tauti*
2) Cheryl Brown*
3) Huong Arcinas*
4) Julie Ann Kulla
5) Akane Nigro-Ismeal

6) Kristin Nunn
7) Meriza DeGuzman
8) Carin Hawkins
9) Amy O’Neil
10) Raechelle Chase
11) Danielle Kifer
12) Allison Jones-williams
13) Terri Turner
14) Sheryln Roy
15) Natalie Waples
16) Jeni Briscoe
16) Andrea Dumon
16) Valerie Gangi
16) Nancy Georges
16) Ann Pratt
16) April Rountree
16) Elvimar Sanchez
16) Alexandra Tothova
16) Karly Woodle

*Qualifies for the 2010 Figure Olympia.