Student competitors bare their muscles

New faces named Mr. and Ms. Penn Baring their well-toned muscles before a crowd of more than 800 fans, Engineering senior Michael Weinberg and Wharton sophomore Renata Clay achieved the respective titles of Mr. and Ms. Penn last night. The audience, which filled Irvine Auditorium for the third annual Mr. and Ms. Penn Bodybuilding Contest, cheered madly as the competitors appeared. Months of hard work materialized for Weinberg, who has been training since high school. After placing second in the heavyweight division last year, Weinberg, in his last attempt at the title, defeated defending champion and Wharton junior Craig Green, who came in third. After months of a low-fat, high-complex-carbohydrate and protein diet, Weinberg said he looked forward to enjoying a less restrictive regimen. At the competition's conclusion, Weinberg happily broke his diet with a slice of pizza. "I can't even describe how I feel because I worked so hard for this," he said. "I want to tip my hat to all my competitors. Craig Green is a great competitor." Clay was competing for the first time and said she was "very surprised" at her victory over last year's champion, College junior Lorie Roth, who placed second. Clay said she has stayed in shape by running track. She did not, however, eliminate all fatty foods, such as pizza, from her diet. "Everyone's laughing at me because I didn't do my diet right," Clay said. In a strong showing of support and unity, identical twins and College juniors Jerry and Michael Cudzil participated for a second year in separate weight divisions. Jerry Cudzil was the men's lightweight champion, and Mike Cudzil was the first runner-up in the middleweight division. "We train together [and] he really helped me out," Jerry Cudzil said of his brother. "It was great." Roth said that despite her loss, she plans to compete again next year. Although some came because they enjoy bodybuilding events, many students attended the event to support friends who were competing. "I have a lot of friends on the team and they asked me to support them," College freshman Bridget Oppong said. The competition consisted of four segments. The 22 male competitors were divided into lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight divisions. The division champions then competed against each other for the overall Mr. and Ms. Penn titles. Eleven women competed in an open division. College senior Adam Tantliff won the middleweight division, becoming the only competitor to retain his title for the second year in a row.

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