Hours of weight training and strict dieting finally paid off forlast night’s 2004 Mr. and Ms. SMU bodybuilding winners AlexCherones and Christie Indianos.
The competition was composed of three female and three malecompetitors.
Female competitors included, sophomore business major Indianos,freshman political science major Ali Frost, and freshman businessmajor Sharde Sluch.
Male competitors included freshman business major Kyle Brinkley,senior finance major Cherones, and senior finance major AndySchenk.
Competitors were judged on four main categories: size, musculardevelopment and symmetry, vascularity and posing routine.
The females began the night with a number of different mandatoryposes including abs, spread lats, double biceps, triceps, calves,both the left and right quadriceps, and most muscular.
Each female competitor then did an individual routine set tomusic of their choice, followed by comparative poses, and endingwith the pose-down between the competitors.
Indianos came away with top honors, winning the femalecompetition with only a six-point difference between first andthird place. Ali Frost came in second, followed by Sharde Sluch inthird.
A Best Pose award was given in addition to the individualplacing.
Frost was awarded best pose.
“I was so nervous at first, but it was a lot of fun. Theother girls were so amazing, so I was happy to win,” Indianossaid.
Director of Recreational Sports and master of ceremonies Tim A.Moore said the competition was very close with only a six-pointdifference between first and third for the females.
There was also an eight-point difference between first and thirdfor the male competition, Moore reported.
“They all were a quality bunch of guys and girls andfriends who worked out together,” Moore said.
The male contest began shortly after the female presentation ofawards.
All three competitors walked out on stage in front of about 300of their peers to do the same mandatory poses, individual routine,comparative posing and again ending with the pose-down.
Cherones finished on top with only one point separating him fromsecond place’s Schenk, and Brinkley coming in third.
Cherones was also awarded Best Poser.
Last night was Cherones’ first year of competing and hastrained for three years prior to the competition.
“I dieted for over four months and did a lot of weightsand empty-stomach cardio to prepare for tonight. Now thatit’s over, I’m tired and dehydrated but happy with theoutcome,” said Cherones.
A judge of the competition and SMU strength coach Will Lawrencesaid last night was one of closest competitions in his four yearsof participating as a judge.
“In past years the winner was pretty easy to spot, butthis year the contest was close for both the female and maledivisions,” said Lawrence.