FigureRX Contest Report: 2007 NPC National Women's Bodybuilding
November 16-17, 2007
OVERALL WINNER - KRISTY HAWKINS
Lightweight
1.
BENI LOPEZ - IFBB Pro Card
2. Galina Serchtsev
3. Tammy Patnode
4. Tera Guzman
5. Kirsten Haratyk
Middleweight
1.
Tina Chandler - IFBB Pro Card
2. Yasha
3. Janet Kaufman
4. Julia Korfhage
5. Terri Harris
Light Heavyweight
1.
Kristy Hawkins - IFBB Pro Card
2. Britt Ashley Miller
3. Karen Choat
4. Elena Seiple
5. Amy Neal
Heavyweight
1.
Beverly DiRenzo - IFBB Pro Card
2. Nekole Hamrick
3. Michele Neil
4. Kris Murrell
5. Gale Frankie
Lightweights - First call-outs:
Beni Lopez, Tera Guzman, Tammy Patnode, Galina Serchtsev
We would have added: Cassie Faussett
Middleweights - First call-outs:
Yasha, Tina Chandler, Julia Korfhage, Janet Kaufman
We would have added: Lindsay Mulinazzi and Carolyn Bryant
Light Heavyweights - First call-outs:
Britt Miller, Elena Seiple, Kristy Hawkins, Karen Choat, Amy Neal
Looks good, our top three are in this group. We wish we could give all three pro cards.
Heavyweights - First call-outs:
Nekole Hamrick, Kris Murrell, Gale Frankie, Beverly DiRenzo, Michele Neil
Again this looks good, a great IFBB pro will emerge from this group!!
While we are at it we have to give a shout out to
Peter Putnam, we want him to finally get a card. Well actually we want figure superstar
Jessica Paxon-Putnam to be happy, but that's the same thing.
FigureRX Spotlight Athlete Beni Lopez
NEWS FLASH - SPOTLIGHT ATHLETE BENI LOPEZ IS AN IFBB PRO!!!
As our readers know by now we like to feature the incredible athletes who decide to move from figure to bodybuilding, or from bodybuilding to figure. These competitors are so talented yet they find themselves in somewhat of a limbo when it comes to the judging criteria in the NPC and IFBB. In other words, there are some amazing physiques that deserve more recognition - we all know that they exhibit excellence but we're not always sure where to place that excellence in the sport.
Based on her showing in the preliminary judging at Nationals, it seems like
Beni Lopez might have finally found her home in bodybuilding!! We've been working with her on an off-season interview but given her showing in Dallas we are making her a spotlight athlete for the show as well. Check out some pictures of Beni at Nationals below.
Beni started her competition career in 1998 as a lightweight bodybuilder and now she has come full circle by doing the same at Nationals this year. Just ten weeks ago she hit the stage as a figure competitor at the North American Championships in Cleveland, where she placed 18th. We noticed her incredible physique and pointed her out in our contest report.
Beni had stepped away from bodybuilding several years ago because the physiques at the national level were getting too massive and she did not feel she could put on that type of size, but when figure became popular she jumped at the chance to compete again and felt she could do well given her size and body frame. In 2004 she entered the NPC Southwest (now the Europa) and placed 2nd in Figure Class A, but at 104 lbs she was told she looked great but was a bit too thin and drawn in the face and needed more quad sweep. So she decided to take some time off to make improvements and next competed at the 2005 Junior Nationals in Chicago (see the photos below).
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----------------------Beni at 2005 Junior Nationals
At Junior Nationals she came in at a weight of 108 lbs with a little more size but was still told that she looked a little drawn in the face, so she came to the realization that anything under 113 lbs was probably not a good look for her. Fast forward to Cleveland this year, where she had put on some good shoulder size and fine-tuned her back stance / posing ..... and she also came in with a much healthier, fuller overall look (113 lbs at 13 percent body fat) that we at
FigureRX felt deserved to be rewarded.
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----------------------------2007 North American Figure Championships
That brings us to today, where she is making a huge splash in Dallas at Nationals .... she made a decision to get out there and be proud of the incredible physique that she has worked hard to build and we couldn't be happier with the results. Go Beni!!
Beni is from south Texas (the San Antonio area) where she grew up on a ranch and was heavily active in sports. She has been happily married to her husband since age 15 and she recently celebrated her 25th wedding anniversary. She has three children ages 23, 14, and 12 years old. We like Beni a lot and we believe she will be successful at anything that she tries. Check out her full interview coming soon to RX magazine.
Additional Athlete Spotlights
We want to give a special shout-out to a few athletes who competed at Nationals and who have impressed us recently and over the years. This is not a slight to any of the amazing competitors, just a few that we would like to recognize.
In the lightweight class,
Cassie Faussett looks incredible at age 22 and is one of the rising stars of the sport. She has a couple of wins under her belt, including the Middleweight title at the 2006 Red River Classic and the Novice/Middleweight and Overall titles at the Shreveport/Bosier Classic. Cassie placed 8th at Nationals.
-------------------------------------------------Cassie Faussett
-------------------------------------------------Nekole Hamrick
---------------------------------------------------Jaime Kocher
