It was a good night for figure and fitness athletes who decided at the last minute to try women’s physique and not such a good night for so-called smaller bodybuilders who went WPD. Witness the victory of recently-a-figure-pro Sara Hurrle at the St. Louis Pro Women’s Physique Championship on March 17, a.k.a. last night The one-time gymnast from Colorado got raves from those in attendance at the St. Louis University’s Busch Student Center for her balanced lines, beautiful muscle and charming presentation and was reportedly a fine choice for first in the nine-woman lineup. The one critique—that she could have been tighter—was understandable: Less than a week before the St. Louis show Hurrle was training for the California Governor’s Cup Pro Figure, scheduled for March 24 in Sacramento, when the suggestion that she might be made for physique spurred her interest. The result was a unanimous score.
Michelle Blank, who had to withdraw from the fitness competition due to a calf injury that also kept her out of the Fitness International two weeks earlier, decided a day before the show to jump into the WPD lineup, and she got second with her own set of nicely muscled curves. Were the judges “making a statement” with their choice of Blank, who was a lot less conditioned, relative to others in the lineup? Yes, but it was probably that they liked her overall look. Third went to Jennifer Smythe (speaking of muscular curves), last year’s Team Universe Overall winner in physique.
As for the smaller-style bodybuilders in the lineup, Marina Lopez the ’10 National Lightweight champ, took fifth, while veteran flexer Tonie Thompson landed in seventh. It doesn’t often happen that Tonie has too much mass for the competition, but I’m guessing that was the situation here. Once again, I’m not reading too much into it. As always, the judges picked from the nine they were looking at, and, after all, it’s only the second contest ever for pro women’s physique.
Find the complete results below.
Photo of Sara Hurrle by Dan Ray. Courtesy of RxMuscle.com.
’12 IFBB St. Louis Pro Women’s Physique Championship
1) Sara Hurrle
2) Michelle Blank
3) Jennifer Smythe
4) Jennifer Robinson
5) Marina Lopez
6) Mikaila Soto
7) Antoinette Thompson
8) Tracy Bodner
9) LaDrissa Bonivel
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