The obvious fan favorite was Connecticut’s P.J. Braun, who brings a mixture of confidence and insanity to the stage. He definitely had his guns loaded and won the heavyweight class. Lithuanian Audrius Jegelevicius, who won the NPC Metropolitan overall in this very same building in April, was named the super heavyweight winner.

A good showing was also made by Paul Sousa, who won the Masters 35+ Heavyweight and Masters Overall. He finished as the runner-up to Braun in the open heavyweight category.

Perhaps the most impressive of all the competitors was Nick Medici, who was named the champion in the Teen B, Teen Overall, Novice Light Heavyweight and Novice Overall divisions. This young man definitely has a future and it would not be a surprise to see him gracing the pages of the muscle magazines very shortly. Definitely the earner of a future pro card.

In women’s bodybuilding, Andrea Giacomi won the overall over Myra Adams and Maria Rita Penteado.Ava Cowan won the overall figure while Sue Dent took the fitness and Monica Eiler the bikini.

Kai Greene, the 2009 Arnold Classic winner, really blew things up with an excellent guest posing appearance. The Brooklyn native possessed an incredible set of wheels and a lat spread that could gather frequent flier miles.

Fast forward to May 6 at the Atlantic States and Penteado strolled onto the same stage at BMCC looking even better. She took the lightweight division and then had to go head-to-head with Andrea Giacomi and Charlene Maschette, the winners of the heavyweight and middleweight divisions, respectively.

Even giving away some size, Penteado was the clear cut winner and showed a good deal of stage presence, flair and personality. Couple that with her sheer beauty and it will not be too long before she is knocking on the door for her pro card. She will need to add some mass to her physique to get to that level and become a favorite, but hopefully she will not take it too far and lose some of the positive attributes that she brings to the sport right now.