COLUMN: The next Mr. Penn walks among us

From Josh Callahan's, "A View from the Porch" At least that's how it used to be. Now, with Jesse "The Body" Ventura drawing plans to build a wrestling ring for his governor's mansion in Minnesota, and Penn students keeping the new Katz Fitness Center full from dawn to midnight, maybe it's time to move these two groups of athletes above roller derby on the legitimacy scale. Which brings us to Tuesday night's main event, the sixth annual Mr. and Ms. Penn contest, hosted by the women's track team at International House. Another sell-out crowd is expected for a show that is becoming one of the best attended athletic events on campus. The crowd on stage will be packed as well, with 23 men and 11 women spread among five divisions, according to event organizer and assistant women's track coach Tony Tenisci. While all of these competitors will share the similarities of having muscled bodies, they certainly aren't all from the same walk of life. Tenisci stresses the importance he places on getting competitors from all sectors of Penn's campus. The Entertainer Tuesday's show will be sophomore Matt Newcomb's first bodybuilding event. This weekend will also be Newcomb's first performance for Onda Latina, a Penn dance group he joined this fall. Oh yeah, Newcomb's a decathlete for the track team as well, making his an easy candidate for most diverse athlete at Penn. "I have to come back from my dance recital and do a whole bunch of sets of abs," Newcomb said. "I want to go to bed, but I have to stay on top of things." Newcomb will be one of six members of the men's track team in the Mr. Penn competition. He-Man Senior Roger Wu is not going to let his third and final Mr. Penn show end without going out in style. Last year his He-Man motif included a sword landing in the back row of the audience, and he promises more of the same this year. "College is the only time you can make an ass out of yourself," said Wu, who sees this as a chance to do something he may never get to do again. "It doesn't seem that hard, but when you do it it's intense. You're trying to summon enough energy to go nuts. That's what it is all about." For Wu, it's also about watching what he eats. "Basically you have to eat what your mom told you to back in the day." The Professional For someone interested in being a professional trainer, it is surprising that senior Eddie Lee is doing his first Mr. Penn competition. He is currently working toward his National Strength and Conditioning Association license, so he is well versed in the proper approach to balancing training and diets. His training program is 90 minutes, Monday through Friday, working on different pieces of his body each day. The diet is even more strict. Six meals a day, with 10 percent fat and one gram of protein for each of his 162 pounds. The plates of tuna, brown rice and egg white also include the use of common supplements including creatine, whey protein powder and Omega Three fish oil. The Karate Kid South African native and karate black-belt Kallan Resnick has been lifting seriously for two years, but spent last year studying abroad in Japan, making this his first opportunity to enter. Resnick does his two workouts a day for the adrenaline rush and the discipline, which he said is not too far removed from his 15 years of karate study. The show itself is his chance to get up and show people what he's done. Hopefully his friends will still recognize him, as Resnick said the last couple months of training -- not to mention the Political Science major's efforts to find a job in East Asia -- have killed his social life. The Final Pose So Mr. Penn, it turns out, isn't going to be a no-brain, muscled freak. He's going to be just like the rest of us for the most part. In fact, everyone associated with the show said they will be there for the same reason the audience will be there -- to have a good time.