Anyone walking around the Hughes-Trigg Student Center Friday evening heard the consistent thumping from below. Students and friends gathered to see male and female students display their rippling biceps in the Mr. and Ms. SMU Body Building Championship.

Sara Gingrich stood proudly as she was announced as the ladies’ winner. Seth Fox took first place for the men, with a joyful face, looking relieved for his hard work paying off.

After the strenuous training, four women and three men competed for the titles. After contestants displayed together in their groups, they did individual routines, displaying their muscles in traditional poses.

The audience was lively as presenter Brook Benten Jimenez had to pause a couple of times to squeeze in announcements. As she said, “front double bicep; relax,” it seemed she was talking more to the audience than the clenching contestants on stage.

As each group did their “final pose down,” the audience roared in excitement.

Having not expected too much from the students, sophomore David Freitag found the competition to be a good one.

“I’m really surprised by the clarity of the muscle groups they brought to the stage,” he said.

Seth Fox and Jesse Murphy, who took home second prize, had the most audience reaction.

“I thought there was really fierce competition – especially between the top two guys,” said Freitag.

Murphy, 21, had a significant number of fans in the crowd as “Jesse, Jesse Jesse!” could be heard throughout the men’s portion of the championship.

Jimenez believed that “in the past eight years, the competition has not been this tight.”

Though he barely missed taking home Mr. SMU 2009, Murphy won the prize for Best Poser.

Gingrich and Fox will soon have their pictures placed on the wall with previous Mr. and Ms. SMU winners in Dedman.