Team U Figure ‘n’ Bikini—the Kids Are All Right
I must be getting soft, but my reaction to the overall winners of the NPC Team Universe Figure and Bikini Championships, crowned last Saturday, July 10, in Hackensack, New Jersey. was, “Adorable.” Of course, there are many wonderful words that could be used to describe figure champ Jackie Hoppe and bikini topper Nicole Nagrani, but in a weekend in which I duly and truly came to understand why Nicole Wilkins-Lee is the top pro figure competitor in the world (a conversation for another entry), it was good to see the NPC crown a couple of cute-as-a-button contenders at this pro-card-bonanza competition.
Pro cards are awarded to the top two in each class in figure and bikini at the T.U. Figure and Bikini Championships, in addition to two per at the accompanying National Fitness Championships. There’s also a pro card for the overall winner of the masters figure division, so you can see why this show is a magnet for babes of all ages. As the numbers show, however, despite bikini’s growing popularity, it won’t be overtaking figure anytime soon: 162 in the figure lineup, plus 69 in the masters, some of whom were crossovers, vs. 77 in the bikini field.
Jackie Hoppe was deemed the best of 37 in the figure C-class before snatching the overall from Tiana Gonzalez (A-class), Teresita Morales (B), Charmayne Jackson (D), Mona Muresan (E) and Michelle Battista (F). Pro cards also went to runners-up Shala Singer (A), Kiana Phi (B), Joanne Murphy (C) Mikaila Soto (D), Patricia Nguyen (E) and Kristen Nagrani (F). The latter, by the way—and in case the name sounds familiar—is the mother of bikini champ Nicole Nagrani, mentioned above, which makes them the first mother-daughter duo ever to turn pro on the same day in the NPC. (Although for my money it’s hard to top Lee Priest’s winning the Australian national mixed-pairs-bodybuilding title with his mum back when he was a teen.)
As so often happens in pro-qualifiers that include masters events, crossover competitors earned pro-qualifying spots in both divisions. Thanks to changes in NPC procedure, the nonmasters winners were announced first, and those who got their pro cards were taken out of the running for the over-35 pro card. That led to a couple of ladies moving up to the head of their classes, including masters C-class runner-up (to Soto) Elizabeth Earhart, who ended up winning the masters overall and getting a card.
At the other end of the spectrum was Nagrani the younger, an 18-year-old former cheerleader and fitness competitor who’s got a great look and, I’m guessing, displayed some smooth moves in winning the bikini B-class and overall. Pro cards also went to: Natalie Abrheim and Kelly Gonzalez (A-class, first and second), Lindsey Morrison (B-class, second), Vanessa Campbell and Bianca Binno (C), Juliana Daniell and Nicole Guerrero (D), Juliette Primak and Chady Dunmore (E) and Jenny Drennan and Kristal Martin
Photos (from top):
Tina Durkin and promoter Steve Weinberger hail new figure champ Jackie Hoppe.
Figure class winners, tall to short (from left): Michelle Bautista, Mona Muresan, Charmayne Jackson, Hoppe ,Teresita Morales and Tiana Gonzalez.
Overall bikini winner Nicole Nagrani.
Bikini winners (from left) Jenny Drennan, Juliette Primak, Juliana Daniell, Vanessa Campbell, Nagrani and Natalie Abrheim do the stride ’n’ snap.
N.Y. Pro Figure Judging: Will It Be Brownie’s Big Day
The ’10 IFBB New York Pro Figure (and NPC Team Universe and Fitness Nationals) got off to a big start last night in Hackensack, New Jersey. From the callouts and photos it appears that Cheryl Brown, a 38-year-old mother of three who’s had a sensational string of top-three finishes since turning pro last summer at the IFBB North American Championships, is on tap to score her second win. Also that Terri Turner and Gennifer Strobo could be nabbing the other two Olympia-qualifying spots.
Those three, plus Dana Fallacara, a brand-new pro who took the A-class at the Junior Nationals last month, made the first callout in the one-piece suit round. I liked the look of Josie Zamora, the overall champ at the Juniors, and the judges must have too. When they got to the two-piece round, they added her to the previous group for the key first callout.
The accompanying photos are the first callouts from both rounds, courtesy of Reg Bradford. Check back later for more on the Team U and Fitness Nationals—and to see if I was right about Brownie, Terri and Gen.
Top photo (from left): Dana Fallacara, Terri Turner, Cheryl Brown and Gennifer Strobo. The panel retired Turner and Brown but kept Fallacara and Strobo up for the second comparison.
Second photo: Josie Zamora (second from the left) joined the group for the big two-piece comparison.
Bits and Pieces for the Fourth
Just call these the ramblings of an editor who could use a holiday weekend…
• I thought it was just me, but I checked the dates. The lo-o-o-ng lull in the 2010 IFBB pro season still has a week to go, with the New York Pro Figure—and NPC Team Universe Championships plus Fitness Nationals—coming up on July 10 and 11 in Hackensack, New Jersey. Not that bodybuilding, fitness, figure and bikini have been on hold since the Cal Pro Figure at the end of May. The amateur season has been chugging along (thank you very much), most recently here in Southern California at Lonnie Teper’s West Coast Classic, which I attended last Saturday.
This weekend we’ve got the Mr. and Ms. Muscle Beach Bodybuilding, Figure and Bikini Championships at the Venice Recreational Center on July 4. Nothing like an old-fashioned day of sun, sand and bodybuilding at the beach. The newly revamped amphitheater next to the famous Venice weight pen makes for the kind of a physique show folks don’t often get to experience these days—it’s outdoors—and admission is free. For more information click here. And don’t forget the sunscreen.
• Also this weekend (well, yesterday) the August IRON MAN hits newsstands. For me, as part of the magazine-production team, it is barely a memory. We are busy finalizing the September issue for the printer. So when the new edition lands in my mailbox, as happens every month, it’s a big Oh, wow, especially when I get to Pump & Circumstance, which is headlined by a hot photo of bikini sensation Nathalia Melo. It also features Roland Balik’s stellar contest photography from the New York Pro Women’s Bodybuilding and Bikini events, held in early May, and some pithy comments, if I do say so myself, about the meaning of sass.
My point here is that readers who are not familiar with the actually IRON MAN magazine might want to check it out. It’s the best package of real bodybuilding and training and nutrition information out there, in addition to the fun stuff like Pump and News & Views (and I’ve always said that, even when I worked for another bodybuilding publisher).
The August cover features a classic Gene Mozée shot of the soon-to-be-ex governor of California towering over the desert. I use the phrase “soon-to-be-ex” not to knock Governor Schwarzenegger but to point out the way time flies. Wasn’t it just yesterday that Arnold was running for reelection? And on an even shorter continuum, wasn’t it yesterday that I was doing a photo-edit of the pictures from New York?
Time flies, but when an image is immortalized on the printed page—as are Roland’s contest photos and Mozée‘s iconic images of Arnold in the August IM—there’s nothing like it. Bet they’ll look really cool on an iPad.
To get the August ’10 IRON MAN click here.
• Re the amateur season. July brings one big pro-qualifying contest after another, starting with the T.U. and then a couple of weeks later, on July 23 and 24, the Master’s Nationals in Pittsburgh, followed by the USA in Las Vegas on July 30 and 31.
I make no predictions except one: There will be a lot more bikini contenders at the Masters Nationals than the five who showed up in Pittsburgh last year. A lot.
• Figure farewell. According to an advisory notice from the IFBB Professional League issued in June, an old friend is going by the wayside after the the ’10 Olympia. Beginning with the Houston Pro Figure on October 23, the one-piece swimsuit round will be a thing of the past.
Raise your hand if you’re shocked at this development. When the one-piece was eased out of fitness a short while back—and out of NPC competition—you had to know it was only a matter of time before it got the ax in pro figure. As one who has whined about the one-piecers over the years, I won’t be sorry to see them go, although, as always, I hate to see the women get less time onstage.
• Re predicting the pro qualifiers. With hundreds of competitors expecting to quarter-turn and model-walk their way through those three big NPC shows mentioned above, it pays to keep track of the gals who do well at some of the tune-up event that are scheduled before them—like, say, the big Los Angeles Championships, which takes place a week before the USA.
With i’s new national-qualifier status L.T.’s West Coast Classic, formerly the Junior Cal, moved into that category, attracting a bountiful bevy of pro-card-hungry figure and bikini contenders from the Golden State and beyond.
Several teams came from Arizona, including some women brought by figure pro Felicia Rodriguez and her honey, Damian Segovia, who took home some serious hardware. Find Darice Castro, Natalie Vanderham and Elizabeth DeFalco in the photo at the top of this entry—and don’t be shocked, (shocked) if their names come up again during the next few weeks.
Photos (from top):
Arizona talent (from left): Natalie Vanderham, Darice Castro and Elizabeth DeFalco (with Felicia Rodriguez) took home class gold from the West Coast Classic Figure competition. Darice won the overall.
Arnold on the IM August ’10 cover.
Pump & Circumstance.
Nicole Wilkins-Lee makes a one-piece suit look good at the ’10 Figure International.
Heather Mae Has Her Say
Here’s what Heather Mae French had to say after her repeat win at the California Pro Figure competition, which was held last week. I caught up with Heather, trophy in hand, and her daughter Autumn a few minutes after she was crowned Cal Pro champ. The good news for her competitors: She’ll be taking a break till the Olympia.
Following this conversation we discussed how one could get the trophy, a large sword, on a plane back to Colorado and whether it would be useful in the kitchen. Shish kabobs for all!
Find my report on the Cal Pro figure below.
Heather Mae Goes Three in a Row at the Cal Pro
An e-mail I received this morning from a good friend who shall remain nameless regarding the California State Pro Figure competition, which was held yesterday, May 29, went as follows:
“What a surprise that Heather May French won (wink, wink).… I just feel that the quality of figure isn’t what it used to be compared to the days of Davana, Medina, Chistina Pomponio Pate, etc.”
My response: Well, yeah, but who was gonna beat her?
I’m not getting into it about Davana et al., but Heather Mae, who won her third straight pro figure show in a row—and second-in-a-row California Pro title—last night at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Culver City, is a genuine figure total package. She’s a beautiful woman, she has a tight little body, she knows how to present and she hits it, conditionwise, every time. One highly placed athlete who was present but had not seen the judging asked what I thought; she’d heard the girls were “harder than at the Arnold.” After admitting that I hadn’t been to the Arnold—and that I’d been so distracted trying to figure out how I’d screwed up my camera setting that I hadn’t actually looked at what I was shooting the judging, I told her this: The women have pretty much been this “hard,” within a range, for some time. The perception that they were softer at the Arnold, a.k.a. the Figure International, in Columbus, Ohio, in early March may have been based on the fact that a “softer” competitor, Nicole Wilkins Lee, won. Heather was third at that one as well as at the ’09 Olympia; and someone would have had to have brought something pretty amazing to have beaten her in Cali.
Prospective recruits for the upcoming summer shows take note: Heather Mae is calling it a day until the Olympia.
Not that talent didn’t get noticed in the 19-woman lineup, which included Meriza Deguzman, Rosa Maria Romero and Canada’s Christina Mehling. In fact, the second and third spots went to a couple of gals who are thrilled to be making their Olympia debuts in September.
Katina Maistrellis was a class winner at the ’08 Nationals. Seventh in her pro debut at the ’09 Europa Super Show and fifth at the ’09 Houston Pro, she eased into the runner-up spot at the Cal with “better balance, better stage presence and more confidence,” by the former competitive swimmer’s own assessment.
The third-place check and Figure Olympia qualification went to Carin Hawkins. Eighth last year at this show as well as at the ’09 Sacramento Pro, Carin, like Katina, has been focusing on making her legs fuller. It seems to be working.
As for Meriza, she landed in fourth, with Michelle Mayberry tickled pink to round out the top five, her finest figure finish ever.
Next up on the pro figure circuit, the Europa Battle of Champions in Hartford, Connecticut on July 23 and 24.
Photo: California top five (from left): Meriza Deguzman, Katina Maistrellis, Heather Mae French, Carin Hawkins and Michelle Mayberry.
Here are the complete results from Culver City:
’09 California State Pro Figure
1) Heather Mae French*
2) Katina Maistrellis*
3) Carin Hawkins*
4) Meriza DeGuzman
5) Michele Mayberry
6) Christina Mehling
7) Jennifer DeJoya
8) Rosa-Maria Romero
9) Angela Terlesky
10) Masae Tagami
11) Georgina Lona
12) Valerie Ganji
13) Raechelle Chase
14) Jessica Wright
15) Susan Salazar
16) Thais Cabrices-Werner
17) Zaneta Ksiazek
18) Candice Houston
19) Ginette Delhaes
* Qualifies for the ’10 Figure Olympia.
Friday Roundup—Pittsburgh to New York
The IFBB pro circuit for early spring hits two of my favorite cities, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a.k.a, the ’Burgh, a.k.a. my hometown, and New York, New York, which is the greatest city in the world, at least in my heart. I hope those who are heading to the Big Apple this weekend get the chance to enjoy it, along with the four pro physique competitions that’ll play out onstage at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, of course.
First, a word about the Pittsburgh Pro Figure and Bikini shows, which took place on May 1 at the Soldiers and Sailors Hall. In figure Heather Mae French looked good enough to take her second title of the year. The top-seeded quarter-turner in the 20-woman lineup—third at the ’10 Figure International, third at the ’09 Olympia—she nailed a perfect score, with Cheryl Brown and Gennifer Strobo nailing unanimous votes for second and third, respectively.
Marcy Porter landed in fourth, and Taylor Condren (formerly Gallagher) took fifth in her pro debut. Find the complete results at the end of this entry below.
In the Pittsburgh Pro Bikini battle, new sensation Nathalia Melo took no prisoners, easily tromping all over an excellent lineup of 14, including Sonia Gonzales, who won the first two IFBB pro bikini shows, and Jaime Baird. As all three were already qualified for the ’10 Olympia, the rule of the sliding Olympia qualification kicked in: Fourth-placer Tianna Ta is going to the big show in September. (Although the top three in figure were also already on the Olympia invite list, the rule did not kick in, as Porter was already qualified as well.)
Shelsea Montes rounded out the top five, and it’s worth noting that Sherlyn Roy moved up from 11th at the Show or Champions in Orlando, Florida, last month to sixth. The complete results are listed below.
Melo, who also swept the field in Orlando, and Gonzales are now tied at two wins apiece for the first-ever pro bikini season. As head judge Sandy Ranalli has been touting Nathalia as the ideal of what the organization is looking for in bikini, though, she could be tough to beat come Olympia time.
Now for tomorrow’s shows in New York, bodybuilding and bikini on the women’s side of the bill.
Continuing a theme: The 21 gals who have who have signed up to show their sassy sides are probably relived that Melo decided to give her bodyparts a rest and will not go for a trifecta. That said, they do have to worry about the gal I expected to be the bikini ideal before Nathalia hit the scene, ’09 USA champ Kristal Marshall, who’s making her pro debut. By now Kristal will have seen the callout videos from Pittsburgh and know just how sassy she needs to be. (The pro shows have seriously upped the ante in terms of projecting personality from the pro qualifiers of last summer.)
Other noted curved-bodies among the 18 projected contestants who could snag a top-three finish in New York include Jelena Abbou, who’s switching from figure, Missy Coles, Shelsea Montes, Alea Suarez and Tianna Ta. Another hot prospect who is making a noted switch to bikini and could make some noise is Alicia Marie.
In the women’s bodybuilding bash, Cathy Le Francois is gunning for her second consecutive title, but the recent list of 14 ladies planning to flex onstage in New York suggest that she might not have an easy time of it. Dayana Cadeau, Kristy Hawkins and Debbie Bramwell leap to mind first, plus a couple of wild cards for a top-three, Olympia-qualifying finish, Heather Foster and Colette Nelson, and the long-awaited pro debut of ’08 NPC National champ Sheila Bleck.
IRON MAN’s Roland Balik, a.k.a. the Great Rolando, will be on hand to capture all the action at the Tribeca, and he’s very excited about shooting his first pro bikini show.
Click for his photos of the women’s bodybuilding and bikini after the fun begins on May 8.
Meanwhile, here are the results from the ‘Burgh:
’10 Pittsburgh Pro Figure
1) Heather Mae French
2) Cheryl Brown
3) Gennifer Strobo
4) Marcy Porter
5) Taylor Condren
6) Tivisay Briceno
7) Holly Beck
8) Karly Woodle
9) Christina Vargas
10) LaVonda Ezell
11) Ginette Delhaes
12) Angela Mraz
13) Ann Pratt
14) Ann Titone
15) Jennifer Woodruff
16) Melody Clere
16) Candice John
16) Jodie Minear
16) Shalmieno Paper
16) Sesa Tomuli
’10 Pittsburgh Pro Bikini
1) Nathalia Melo
2) Sonia Gonzales
3) Jaime Baird
4) Tianna Ta
5) Shelsea Montes
6) Sheryln Roy
7) Alea Suarez
8) Jennifer Dietrich
9) Khanh Nguyen
10) Kira Rivera
11) Kat Holmes
12) Jessica Lawrence
13) Janet Harding
14) Stefanie Lindsey
Photos: Heather Mae French (top) and Nathalia Melo in Pittsburgh.