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Published on Friday, 15 July 2011 17:24
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Written by Christy Lauren Poole
The Woman Showed Up to Play!
This past weekend June 8th and 9th in Teaneck New Jersey the Marriott at Glenpointe hosted once again the 2011 NPC Team Universe. It was a great show for the woman with a special announcement of additional IFBB pro cards to be handed out, which upped the intensity and the drive to show up on point!
Winners Eligible for IFBB Pro Status:
■ Women's Bodybuilding: Overall Winner, and Masters Overall
■ Women's Physique: Top 2 in each class
■ Women's Figure: Top 2 in each of the 6 height classes and 35+ Overall and 45+ Overall
■ Women's Fitness: Top 2 in each of the 3 height classes
■ Women's Bikini: Top 2 in each of the 6 height class and Over 35+
All Team Universe Overall Winners will then be eligible to compete on the US Team at the 2011 World Championships!
Female Bodybuilding:
In the Female Bodybuilding division, the gorgeous Heavy Weight Cynthia Colon, who switched over from Figure in 2007, filled out especially well in all the right places to earn her not only the over all, but also her pro card in the IFBB. Cynthia showed up with great symmetry, nice presentation, and huge quads that were tough to beat! Cynthia is opting not to have her pro debut at the Europa in the next coming weeks, and instead will be taking some time off to improve her abs/back and over all conditioning
Just 3 points behind her the judges place Jennifer Peccia. The former Atlantic States Champion. Jen had great shape and overall symmetry, but the judges felt she could be a little tighter from behind.
Also to mention is Hayley McNeff, having won last year, was knocked down to 5th this year. The youth and beauty are definitely in Hayley's corner and we look forward to a better year from her.
Returning champion Middleweight Pam Wentz, who won her class last year brought the heat again to take her class, but was closely followed by Linda Estravillo.
In the light weight division another close race was between Patricia Watson and former LW Champion Maria Carolina Davis. However Patricia's great back double and super lean glutes and hams brought her in for the win.
In the masters division long time competitors Karen Gato (masters 45+) finally earned her highly anticipated pro cards after 30 years of training and competing for 29 years. Karen is 48, and is also a Bro's vs. Pro's Squat Champion!
Women's Physique:
In Women's Physique, the new division of the year, the classes were split up once again into Class A and Class B. Jennifer Smythe, who competed in figure for the past 3 years, doing three shows a year and having just competed at the Jr. USA's definitely made the right move into Women's Physique. She had been thinking about doing physique and decided to keep her diet clean since Jr. USAs which let Jen hold her own on stage and easily take the Class A and the Overall. She was followed by Ayonna Carol who also took her pro card as well for the show.
Marlena Echohawk having just competed 2 weeks ago in the figure division at Jr. Nationals placing 12th, switched over to physique as well, taking the Class B overall win and earned her Pro Card. Marlena, will take this off season to work on building her arms and to get more comfortable with her posing. Roseanna Devingneaud followed Marlena with a second place win taking her pro card home as well.
Figure:
The largest division to show up at Team U was definitely the figure division with 6 classes as well as 4 classes for Masters 35+ and one class for Masters 45+.
Angelica Nebbia had the right combination of structure and conditioning to take Figure Class A as well as the Overall out of all the classes. Although one would think that would be the highlight of her night, but she was HAPPILY able to walk away from the night with TWO wins having her fiancé, Roy, propose to her on stage after her win. Of course she said YES! Congrats Angelica! Angelica is going to check in with her coach Kevin English and see what his advice would be for her next steps. Melanie Becker DePalma from Staten Island, NY followed Angelica in 2nd for the Class A pro card.
Class B pro cards were given to first place Keisha Smith who starting competing in 2008 and second place Shelly Albetta, who also had a great night when her boyfriend Nick Fragretti of Gaspari who came out to propose. She said ‘yes' as well!
Class C pro cards were given to first place Melisa Brooke Erickson and second place Allison Frahn. Class D pro cards were given to first place Amber Spina who transferred over from bikini for a very emotional win. Second place Cheryl Davis. Class E pro cards were given to first place Kavvy Sonhos who was very shocked and honored with her win, after training for 18 years. Second place Stacey Barta. Class F pro cards were given to First Place Rebecca Bowers who has been competing less than a year and Second Place Anissa Payne. Masters 35+ A class winner was Jamie Frenkel. Masters 35+ B class winner was Shannon Ditmer. Masters 35+ C Class Winner was Patty Zariello. Masters 35+ D Class winner was Diana Harbot. Masters 45+ Class winner was Patrice Vignola.
Fitness:
With six IFBB pro cards up for grabs in the fitness division, each girl brought the fire!
Sherry Vucick with her high energy and seemingly effortless routine took the C Class and the Overall Fitness Win getting her pro card after competing off and on for 10 years! Following her was Whitney Jones with freaky quads to catapult her powerful high flying flips to earn her pro card as well.
Amy Peterson-Justice came ready to get down and dirty in her country cowboy routine providing enough HIGH energy and kicks allowed her to win her pro card and take Fitness Class A followed by Anna Moyano taking second.
Tiffany Robinson from Daytona Florida came prepared to fight all the fire and heat dressed as a firefighter flicking powerful moves across the stage to revel a red devilish outfit! Her clean routine awarded her a pro card with the Class B win followed by Linda McKown for second.
Bikini:
Another class with an extremely large amount of entries was the Bikini Division with 6 classes as well as a Masters 35+ and a Masters 45+. The top two in each class were awarded pro cards, as well as the Masters 35+ and Masters 45+ overall winners.
Of all of the competitors the judges felt that Roya Therani was the clear cut winner for class D and Overall! Roya competed a few weeks ago at the NPC Atlantic States and we tied with India Paulio for first place.
Other Competitors to Note:
Class A: Sara Moylan in First and Katie Chunghua in second
Class B: Yeshaira Robels in First and Skye Taylor in second
Class C: Marisa Lee in First and Taylor Matheny in second
Class D: Roya Tehrani in First and Overall former Atlantic States Co-Champion and Tawna Eubanks in second
Class E: Heather Nappi in First and Casey Trailer in second
Class F: Lisa Lutz in first and Jennifer Rankin in second
Masters 35+: Michell Hutton in First and Michelle Hanson in second (but no pro card for 2nd)
Masters 45+: Stacey Naito
Overall, it was a great show for the women, with many pros looking for their debut in the next year!
Congrats Ladies!
