The lights dimmed in the McAfee Gym on Saturday as the music vibrated through the floor and the clusters of people in matching t-shirts went wild.

Groups of sorority sisters, fraternity brothers, family members and friends brought matching shirts, noisemakers and signs to cheer for the contestants in the Mr. EIU, as well as the Ms. Physique and Ms. Fitness competitions.

The winners included Samantha Matthies as Ms. Fitness, Claudine Youkhana as Ms. Physique and Mark Smith, as Mr. EIU.

Smith, a senior management information systems major, said he didn’t think he was going to win the competition and was in disbelief when he did. He said he faced strong competition.

“Obviously I was going against a very good competitor, Quentin Hursey,” Smith said.

Smith said the group of competitors know each other and some friends occasionally hang out, but Smith said he doubts they are friends though they are nice to each other.

The training process is also really grueling, Smith said. He said six and a half months before the competition started he had his body fat measured and weighed 268 pounds.

Smith said he lost 68 pounds for the competition, weighing 200 pounds during the Mr. EIU event.

The hardest part for Smith was feeling alone during the process, he said.

“This whole time you are by yourself and nobody really knows what you’re doing,” Smith said.

Smith said training for the competition is an “individual journey” but the support from his family, friends and girlfriend helped him through it.

Smith said one problem that plagues the winners of the fitness competition are rumors of drug and steroid use. Smith said the coordinators of the competition are now requiring random drug National Collegiate Athletic Association drug screenings and Smith said he will be taking one today.

Elliot Schachte, a junior kinesiology major, said he came to the event to support his friend Quentin Hursey, who was competing in the middleweight category.

“This is his third year and he has tried harder and harder every year,” Schachte said.

Hursey won the middleweight category, but did not win overall for Mr. EIU.

Schachte said Hursey trained hard, but he said having his friends and family there to support him helped.

Jamie Kemp, a graphic designer for the Center for Academic Technology Support, said she came to the event to support the contestants of the Ms. Physique contest, Megan Murphy and Claudine Youkhana, who Kemp said are both good friends of hers.

“I think they did phenomenal,” Kemp said.

Kemp said friends of the contestants would get together in groups and go to the gym to help them train, but Kemp said the training process was a “rollercoaster.”

The contestants where judged off different events, including group symmetry, personal routines and mandatory poses.

The judges included professional body builders, a health and fitness researcher, and a former Mr. EIU. The judges were Murrell Hall, Paula Bauler, Laurie Ellis, Tom Leong and Jeffery Willardson.

Kathryn Richter can be reached at 581-2812 or kjrichter@eiu.edu.