Bodybuilders strut their stuff in contest

Zellerbach Theatre was rocking as the 15th annual Mr. and Ms. Penn Bodybuilding Contest kicked off.

The Mr. Penn prize was awarded to College junior Ian Barrett, while College junior Jesse Carlin was dubbed Ms. Penn.

The crowd enthusiastically did the wave while anxiously anticipating the first competition. A large contingent of fans supporting their teammates and friends waved a plethora of brightly decorated signs.

"Every year, I am just completely thrilled by what I see," said women's assistant track coach Tony Tenisci, the organizer of all 15 years of the event. "Eight weeks after I meet them, I see that [the bodybuilders are] able to achieve not only the understanding of bodybuilding and posing, but just to see how far they took their bodies."

The competition was split up into four different classes: short-class men, short-class women, tall-class men and tall-class women. Barrett took the victory in the short-class men event, Carlin won the short-class women, Wharton graduate student Chris Hill won the tall-class men and College sophomore Kara Kopp took the tall-class women event.

The winners were decided by seven judges, led by a head judge.

"I try to see if they have symmetry, if they have muscle, if they have a good routine," head judge Vincent Faust said. "It's all about having fun."

And it seemed like most of the contestants did have fun. The R&B; and rap music pumped up both the crowd and competitors. Each contestant also had a one-and-a-half minute block when he or she had the entire stage to show off ripped muscles. Each performance was also choreographed to music ranging from rock to rap.

It was "sweet," said Hill, who was runner-up on the men's side. "First, I had about 20 or so of my Wharton Lauder friends right in the middle yelling, and it was incredible. Any kind of nerves I had were gone."

Tenisci had no problem getting the word out to possible competitors.

"I was working out in Pottruck, and Coach Tenisci had set up a little poster thing out there, and it looked kind of cool so I checked it out. . I talked to him once, and that was it for me." Hill said.

Tenisci said he was pleased with how this year's competition went.

"I think it's become an event at Penn. It's become a tradition in the fall where young people want to come and see this," Tenisci said. "For me, it's something very special about Penn. This couldn't be done at [just] any school."

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