FigureRX Contest Report: 2007 NPC Excalibur Figure
December 5, 2007
There's just something about Southern California in early December, especially if you live in a place where it's finally starting to snow heavily (like Chicago this week). Every year the NPC Excalibur rolls around to show us that the season isn't quite over yet, while the Ironman (moving from Pasadena to Los Angeles in February) is an excellent reminder that the season doesn't start with the Arnold. So we finish 2007 in an outdoor hot tub in Los Angeles, and then start 2008 there too, perfect NPC book-ends to the holiday season.
Culver City is like being in Los Angeles without actually being there. The area around Veteran's Memorial is like an actual real neighborhood, and there's a big park adjoining the facility. Promoter Jon Lindsay's shows are packed, the lot fills up, but it's a short tree-lined walk from the prevalent street parking. The Radisson is great for photo shoots, and in less than ten minutes you can be on Venice Beach or at
Firehouse. If you were wondering if it's worth it to just come out and see an NPC non-national show, and maybe catch a taping or two of
American Gladiators while you are at it, be sure to put this show on your calendar next year!!
------------Danielle Rouleau at the Culver City Radisson
The talent competing in figure at the Excalibur was pretty good, but the classes ended up being a confirmation of the need for the new height class cut-offs that will be implemented in six class figure shows in the NPC next year (
LINK).
Figure Class A was incredibly stacked, starting with the overall winner
Susan Salazar who continued her string of undefeated performances in 2007.
FigureRX selected Susan as one of our spotlight competitors at the 2007 Border States in October (
LINK), and we believe this may be her fourth win of the year. That's good for her and great for the sport, because she brings some serious muscle and anytime an athlete with substantive mass wins a show there is a little bit of a ripple effect up and down the federations. So kudos to Susan for presenting such a muscular, symmetrical and beautiful package.
--
----------------------------------------------------Susan Salazar
The second place finisher in Class A,
Wendy Kaszer, has a beautiful figure shape and nice arms, and might have been able to win some of the other classes. We also thought that
Molly Goodwin, in third, is ready to make an impact at the national level.
--
----------------------------------------------------Wendy Kaszer
Denise Dinger came in very well conditioned including some seriously etched quads, and she showed them off with some interesting and entertaining posing. We also saw a lot of potential in the 12th and 13th place finishers,
Rachele Magno and
Jamie Dulak.
--
-----------------------Denise Dinger-------------------------------------------Rachele Magno
Please go
here to see the Figure Class A score sheet.
Figure Class B clearly could have benefited from having some of the Class A competitors move over, but
Tammy Sievers stood out as someone who has a future at the national level.
Shannon Furstenberg won the class, following up on her third place finish at the Cal State and her class win at the NPC Los Angeles. In
Figure Class C we really liked
Susie Henry, who moved up one spot from her finishes at the 2007 NPC Los Angeles Figure to take both the class as well as the Master's overall crown. Susie has beautiful upper body symmetry and excellent arm development and vascularity. We also loved how her suit styles and colors complemented her hair, skin tone and physique.
--
----------------------------------------------------Susie Henrie
Shila Schell, finishing second, was not to be overlooked in this class either - she also brought an excellent package highlighted by her abs and calves and needs to tighten up her hamstrings, glutes and upper quads to get ready for the next level.
Rachel Jackson brought a very thick physique with great arms that might have been competitive in the bodybuilding division.
Please go
here to see the Figure Class B score sheet and
here for the Class C score sheet.
--
-----------------------Shila Schell-------------------------------------------Rachel Jackson
Selma McPherson won
Figure Class D, and also took first place in the 45+ masters division. Third place finisher
Kristin Flores impressed us in this group with her vascularity and level of conditioning.
--
-------------------Selma McPherson-----------------------------------------Kristin Flores
We also want to give two
FigureRX spotlight shout-outs to class D competitors
Beatriz Andrade and
Rene Racicot. Beatriz looked incredible in her first show, and we think she's only going to get better in 2008. She has a page over at the potato mafia (
LINK) and it's worth taking a look at her transformation pictures - we know we felt inspired. Rene is a 20-year old competitor who lives in Reno, Nevada and who is part of Team AliFitness - that's
Ali Metkovich-Knight of the 2005 IFBB figure pro card class. Rene has a stand-out midsection, great genetics, a beautiful look, and a solid future in the sport.
--
-------------------Beatriz Andrade-----------------------------------------Rene Racicot
--
-------------------Rene with Team FigureRX's Lindsey Cope
Please go
here to see the Figure Class D score sheet.
--------------------__________________________________________________________________
--------------------For hundreds of exclusive photos and dozens of video clips please visit Danielle
--------------------Rouleau's VIP member area at
www.DanielleRouleau.com.
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--------------------__________________________________________________________________
Gina Cook won both
Figure Class E and placed 2nd in the 35+ division. At
FigureRX, because we are a figure and fitness team, we have a tendency to not just evaluate what we see on stage but we also look closely at future potential. We saw some superb genetics in Class E, starting with the beautiful
Mallory Quinn. Mallory has the overall shape to compete in this sport, if she decides to take it to the next level from a nutritional and conditioning standpoint.
--
-----------------------Gina Cook---------------------------------------------Mallory Quinn
One of our favorite athletes of the night, and another competitor who looks to be a future star, was
Tiffany Gaston. Tiffany at first glance seems to be new to the sport, and needs to work on her posing technique and her contest tan. She also needs better posing suits to bring out her X-shape. But Tiffany has all the makings of an excellent physique, starting with great calves, quads, abs and arms, and she had an excellent and fun attitude on stage as well. She reminds us a little bit of
Amy Fry when she was rising through the ranks. We look forward to seeing how far Tiffany can go if she decides to do so.
--
----------------------------------------------------Tiffany Gaston
Check out more photos of Tiffany
here. Please go
here to see the Figure Class E score sheet.
Figure Class F was the largest with 22 competitors. With that many athletes, you had to know that this would be a competitive class with a lot of talent and that the winner would be impressive.
Katie Coles did not disappoint, she exhibited a gorgeous shape and overall package and we expect her to do well at the national level.
--
----------------------------------------------------Katie Coles
A familiar face,
Renee Bradford, took second place in the class. We last saw Renee winning Masters class D at the 2006 North American Championships.
Natasha Weninger, the third place finisher, also has the tools and the look to take it to the next level. Natasha has an ideal X-shape along with standout delts, and great legs, and with a little more arm size and definition she will be a factor on the national stage.
Jaqueline Dodge and
Suzy Mendoza rounded out an impressive top five.
--
-------------------------------------------------Natasha Weninger
We feel that
Anne Apodaca made some significant improvements since competing here last year.
Lauren Beckham has great abs and arms (otherwise known as the
Julie Lohre combo
) and we would have moved
Amanda Folstaad up considerably from her 12th place finish. Amanda's level of mass is symmetrical and beautiful and therefore we did not think it should have been penalized, and we strongly feel that she has a pro-quality type physique and that she belongs on the national stage. We don't see any weaknesses in her presentation and hope that she will continue to compete in figure.
Kimette Hughes stood out for her abdominal development while
Shelly Storozuk had a unique yet confident stance that we appreciated.
--
--------------------------------------------------Amanda Folstaad
You can see more photos of Amanda
here. Please go
here to see the Figure Class F score sheet.
