( More photos from the contest)
Although Penn has been in the midst of this fall's first cold snap over the last few days, there was plenty of heat generated in the Annenberg Center's Zellerbach Theatre last night at the 11th annual Ms. and Mr. Penn Bodybuilding Contest.
The event was organized by the Penn women's track team and drew a field of 19 men and 13 women, divided into middle and lightweight sections. Dental School graduate student Ben Studebaker won the men's event for the second year in a row, while College senior Erin Rhoades -- a member of the Penn track and field team -- won the women's competition.
The night began with a dance exhibition by the Fly Girls, who were also all members of the track team. They performed to a mix of rap music which included Shake Your Tailfeather by Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and Nelly, and Crazy Right Now by Beyonc‚. After that, it was onto the competition.
First came the lightweight men. The group of nine was split in half, and each of those groups formed a line in front of a panel of five judges -- which included former Penn track team members and local celebrity bodybuilders.
Master of Ceremonies Tony Tenisci, an assistant coach with the women's track team, instructed the contestants to perform a series of muscle flexes, each emphasizing a different part of the body. The contestants then performed 90-second solo dance and flex routines for the judges. The lineup was judged on a scale of 10 points, and the individual routine was scored on a scale of 20.
This process was repeated for the lightweight women, middleweight men and middleweight women. In between, the crowd was treated to guest performances from Melina Bell, Ian Andracchio and Leslie Magnum, professional bodybuilding experts from across the region.
Throughout the night, the crowd, filled largely with friends and relatives of the night's participants, chanted and cheered for each contestant. Perhaps the largest cheers were reserved for Engineering junior Steven Sadek and senior Brendan Boyle on the men's side, and the multiple members of the track and gymnastics teams on the women's side.
Boyle and Sadek were supported by members of their fraternity, Sigma Pi.
"We're cheering on two of our boys," Sigma Pi brother Andrew Magyar said. He estimated that there were "about 20-25 guys here in total" from the fraternity.
The runners and gymnasts were greeted by a chorus of deafening and high-pitched screams from what seemed like the entire front half of the theater. The enthusiastic cheering only grew louder after Rhoades won the lightweight division and went on to face and defeat teammate Izu Emeagwali, who won the middleweight division.
"For me, it's a lot of fun," Rhoades said. "I like to perform, and it's something that I've always done, so it's not too scary."
The men's side was an all-Dental School final, with Studebaker defending his crown at the expense of classmate and close friend Mulokozi Lugakingira.
Although Studebaker admitted that the eight-week-long training regimen meant that he "just didn't have any free time at all," he was able to find plenty of motivation from Lugakingira to keep working.
"Each of us knew the other one was going to be there" training, Studebaker said, "so we forced each other to come in every night."
