Archives for November 2009

Visit Bodybuilding.com for photos from this past weekend’s events. Money Mark Mason was snapp’n the action on stage while Ron Avidan was behind-the-scenes getting all the coverage. I was pulling double duty for NPC NEWS and FLEX Magazine for the stage coverage this time around. Photos from this weekend’s event will be for sale on photos.liftstudios.com later this week. Look for coverage in NPC NEWS and FLEX magazine in the coming weeks.

Congrats to all the new IFBB Pros and everyone who achieved their goals.

All the classes in the figure competition were competitive. If I was a gambling man I’d put my money on the overall crown going to either Ava Cowan or Mindi Smith. I’d have to see them compared to tell which one gets my vote but both are very good and should they turn pro, which I can’t see how they won’t, both will do well at the next level immediately. Here’s how I saw the six height classes going…

Class A:
1 – Debra Lavette
2 – Kimberle Trowbridge
3 – Mandy Henderson
4 – Tina Francis
5 – Sylvia Lopez – Roule
6 – Catherine Chlipala

Class B:
1 – Josie Zamora
2 – Kathleen Tesori
3 – Jennifer Smythe
4 – Tiffany Procopio
5 – Michelle Krause
6 – Sandra Lombardo

This was a very tough class. The top 3-4 are very good. I’d have no problem with my top three being wrong. Kathleen Tesori was very impressive in her National debut. I like Jennifer Smythe’s look a lot. Josie Zamora has a great physique as well. These three were very competitive with each other.

Class C:
1 – Ava Cowan
2 – Alexandra Porshnikoff
3 – Rachel Gichet
4 – Casey Brocato
5 – Aj Jerome
6 – Adriana Sanchez

No disrespect to the women in this large and competitive class but Ava Cowan was the star here. She has an incredible physique and it’s already at a pro level. Look for her to leave a pro and potentially the overall winner.

Class D:
1 – Taylor Gallagher
2 – Casandra Madero
3 – Ryan Everson
4 – Jennifer Marchetta
5 – Jami DeBernard
6 – Teale Mueller

The top three could go either way here. I like Ryan from the front but felt she was a little too soft in the glutes to get my vote for the win. She could be there though. I like Taylor’s physique the best in this line up and would give her the win. Casandra is keeping it interesting. This will be interesting to see how the top three play out.

Class E:
1 – Mindi Smith
2 – Kim Sheppard
3 – Amy Vetter
4 – Alexandra Johnston
5 – Summer Rogers
6 – Jennifer Myers

Mindi Smith and Kim Sheppard battled for the overall title a couple of weeks ago in Sacramento. Mindi prevailed and I see her doing the same again here. She is in better condition than she was in Sacramento and I see her battling it out with Ava Cowan for the overall title. We’ll see. I love Kim’s look and she was on point here.

Class F:
1 – Holly Beck
2 – Jennifer Marie Martin
3 – Jeanne Nimmer
4 – Andrea Holliday
5 – Jessica Smith
6 – Michelle Battista

This class was much larger than usual and the top spots could go a number of ways. Tough call but that’s how I placed them. We’ll see if I am right on how they finish.

The finals begin at 6:30pm. I’ll do my best to tweet and report live from the show but the connection in the venue sucks, at least to the internet via AT&T. Check out photos from the prejudging on FLEXonline.com.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I was pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of female bodybuilders in this show. Bravo to the women competing in this show and the classes were all competitive. It was the first time in a very long time that I was impressed by this division. The women didn’t look freakish and over the top from previous contests. 

Here’s how I saw the classes going. Again – just my opinion.

Lightweight:
1 – Barbara Fletcher
2 – Lori Steele
3 – Stacey Pillari
4 – Kristen Haratyk

Barbara is the shortest competitor on stage but I see her standing tall and leaving a pro. It was her back that gave her the nod from my vantage point. Good class.

 Middleweight:
1 – Lisette Acevedo
2 – Janet Kauffman
3 – Terri Harris
4 – Suzanne Germano
5 – Angie Robertson

 Light – Heavyweight:
1 – Nicole Berg
2 – LaDown Toniko McDay
3 – Anita Nikolich
4 – Tierany Chretien
5 – Jennifer Gutierrez

Heavyweight:
1 – Amber DeFrancesco
2 – Monique Jones
3 – Kris Murrell
4 – Sarah Hayes
5 – Nekole Hamrick

Amber looked her best ever. Props to George Farah for dialing her in. I like Kris Murrell’s look and she is a big girl. She could have been a bit tighter from behind but it was her best showing in years. Sarah Hayes missed the top callout but held her own in this class. Monique Jones has great shape and it helped her land in the top three.

If I were to pick who I would say will leave the overall winner – I’d go with Amber DeFrancesco. She was the most impressive bodybuilding in this show. We’ll find out shortly if the judges share a similar opinion. Check out photos from the prejudging on FLEXonline.com.

The men took the stage last night to kick things off for the 2010 NPC Nationals. The bikini competitors’ prejudging went on after the men and lasted under a a hour. There is no mess’n around at a National level show. Things are run very quickly, efficiently and without delay.

This morning women’s prejudging will begin at 8:30 am EST with the bodybuilding. If the weigh-ins were foreshadowing of this morning’s competition, this will be a very competitive show. The Figure women will take the stage immediately after the bodybuilding. I look for that to start around 10am. I have high hopes for the Figure at this show. There were a number of women who have tremendous potential and could make an immediate impact on the pros.

Last year’s winner Erin Stern came out of virtually no where to win the overall. Could there be another woman do the same today? Possible. Follow along on here as I update you throughout the day. You can check out my photos from this morning’s prejudging at FLEXonline.com. We’ll be posting photos from each class immediately after they finish.

8:15 am
Getting settled into my seat in the press pit. Sitting next to Jeff Blinn who is shooting for MD and Mark Mason who is shooting for Bodybuilding.com. Both guys are cool to chat with and if there was a mic in the press pit, it would be an amusing but disturbing bit of sound bites. Both guys helped me out by lending me compact flash cards. When shooting JPGs and RAW files (camera geek speak) the cards fill up fast. Since FEDEX SUCKED a big one at delivering my cards on time (despite paying for overnight shipp) I didn’t have the size of cards needed. Blah blah. I’ll shut up. Let’s get this show a rock’n!

9:00 am
Reception in the venue on my phone sucks. Updating will come this afternoon.

11:30 am
A few people approached me and said I was too hard on the bikini division and others thanked me. At least I know people are reading HARDBODY. HA! I’m sure I will be wrong on a number of placings when the finals are announced tonight. Just because you are in the middle at the end of the first callout doesn’t mean you will win the class. There were some women in the bikini division who looked good so not saying it was a total bust. Again only my opinion and compared to other shows this was the most lackluster turnout for the new division.

2:00pm
Prejudging went well. Very quick as expected and given the number of competitors the judges and staff did a great job. I was impressed with the female bodybuilders. A number of women looked like women and it was probably the best group of female bodybuilding I’ve seen in quite some time. I said to one fellow photographer that if female bodybuilding looked like it did today I might have more of an interest in it. Great job overall by the female bodybuilders in this show. 

Figure women were large in numbers and the top five in each group was solid. Some classes were better than others but that’s how it always goes.

It was nice to get a break before the finals. Time to recharge batteries in camera and the life batteries for round two.

Follow along on TWITTER.com as I tweet my top picks as well.

Ah bikini how we all love it so, right? Meh. If someone was seeing their first NPC bikini competition during last night’s prejudging and walked away disappointed, I wouldn’t blame them. Generally speaking, this was probably the most lackluster showing from the bikini division of the year. There were a few exceptions but few took the stage and wowed the judges, at least in my opinion. Some women tried a little too hard. Twirling your hair with your finger, while posing… looks tacky and I wouldn’t recommend it. Flipping your hair and looking like you are about to mount a pole, again tacky.

Again generally speaking, there were a number of small booties. While that’s not a bad thing it wasn’t a great thing either. A number of women could benefit from hitting the squat rack. I would rather see too small of butts than flabby ones on stage.

It wasn’t all bad and let me stress these are only my opinions. I’ve seen a number of bikini shows on the national and regional stages. There are a number of very fit, attractive bikini competitors in the NPC. There were a few women who caught my attention but I think I can count them on one hand at this show. I won’t hammer the bikini competitors from this show any longer.

Here’s how I had the classes from my press seat. These are only MY OPINIONS and not actual results or the opinions of the judges. I’ve been wrong before and I’m sure I’ll be proven wrong again tomorrow. We’ll find out how I do in my placings tomorrow night.

Bikini A:
1) Trina Goosby
2) Kelly Gonzalez
3) Janice Gunderson

Bikini B:
1) Michelle Cagle
2) Keva Matovina
3) Erica Reder
4) Andrea Carpinelli
5) Toniann Rotante

Bikini C:
1) Vanessa Prebyl
2) Alea Suarez
3) Megan Zumpano
4) Ami Seier
5) Christina Giese

Bikini D:
1) Brittany O’Conner
2) Tisha DesMarteau
3) Tianna Ta
4) Chelsie Beanblossom
5) Tonya McCort

Bikini E:
1) Alison Rosen
2) Michelle Maxwell
3) Ellen Beckner
4) Michelle Hanson
5) Jessica Anderson

Bikini F:
1) Stefanie Lindsey
2) Meredith Long
3) Rhiannon Genov
4) Cynthia Kidd
5) Lisa Bockwell

The finals will take place tomorrow night. See ya there!

The host hotel for this year’s NPC Nationals is great. A balcony with an ocean view… AWESOME. Here’s a quick tour of what the standard room at the Westin Diplomat looks like.