Many months of strict diets and workout plans all led up to the Mr. EIU, Ms. Fitness and Ms. Physique bodybuilding competition Saturday in McAfee Gym.

The competition included 13 men for the title of Mr. EIU, three women for Ms. Fitness and six women for Ms. Physique.

The winner of the Ms. Fitness Completion was Kelsie Abolt, a sophomore family and consumer sciences major.

This was the first year Abolt participated.

Samantha Petrarca and Christina DeMuro also competed in this section.

The three contestants performed personal routines and group symmetry.

The judges were Chad Graham, Shannon Siemer, Jennifer Carter, Jim DiNaso and Tom Leong; all are Eastern graduates.

Competitors for Ms. Physique focused more on their muscle tone, while those for Ms. Fitness focused on their overall body symmetry.

The winner of Ms. Physique was Amanda White, a senior art major.  This was her first year in the competition, and her boyfriend, Cody Sanders, was in this year’s Mr. EIU competition as well.

Others vying for the Ms. Physique title were Morgan McDermott, Kaitlyn Corzine, Alexandra Stringini, Sabrina Wallrich and Kristin Stine.

White said she was shocked and happy that she won the competition.

“The reason why I entered the competition was to set goals for the show and to reach a physical goal,” she said.  “If I get into the graduate program at Eastern, I might do another competition here, but since I’m graduating in the fall, I am probably going to do shows after then.”

White said the kinds of competitions she might enter are bikini and figure.

“If you are thinking about being a part of this competition, just take the dive and go for it,” she said.

White said she recommends only competing against one’s self in competitions like this.

The Mr. EIU competition included five weight classes: Bantam, which is 155 pounds and below; light, which is 156 to 165 pounds; middle, which is 166 to 175 pounds; light-heavy, which is 176 to 184 pounds; and heavy, which is 185 pounds and above.

The winner of the competition was Alex Westerman, a kinesiology and sports studies major, from the Bantam weight class.  This was his first year competing for Mr. EIU.

The other men who participated in this year’s Mr. EIU competition included Taylor Bradley, James Mariani, Kyle Boewe, Kenneth Ballom, Jared Buscher, Joseph Thomson, Anthony Day, Cody Sanders, Joshua Hopkins, Justin Koeckritz, Cole Younger, and Alex Wood.

Wood was the winner of last year’s Mr. EIU competition.

For both Ms. Physique and Mr. EIU, the participants performed the same three routines; group symmetry, personal routines and mandatory poses.

The routines are what the judges used to decide the winners of the completion.

Stephanie White can be reached at 581-2812 or at sewhite2@eiu.edu.