There were two notable changes this year at the prestigious New York Pro Championships held on May 9-10, 2015. The biggest news, of course, was that the former three-time winner of this contest and current Physique Olympia champion, Juliana Malacarne, was in the audience to watch the battle for who would take over her crown as the new NY Pro champ. After winning this event for three consecutive years, Malacarne's absence may have helped draw a huge contingent of 32 competitors from 12 states and 7 foreign countries. In addition, the event moved across the river after several years at the Tribeca Theatre in NYC to the Marriott Hotel Glenpointe in Teaneck, New Jersey.
Cummings and Goings
With a full-on rush to claim the NY Pro title vacated by Juliana Malacarne, the epic battle narrowed to New Yorker Michelle Cummings making her first return to the stage since the 2013 Tampa Pro where she placed ninth as a bodybuilder. Cummings, who was the 2011 NPC National overall winner and a ninth-placer at the 2012 Ms. Olympia, was making her debut at this event as a Physique competitor and her efforts to transition down to that look was a favorable one in the eyes of the judging panel. A former gymnast, Cummings weighed 150 pounds when she won the NPC Nationals, but had dropped several pounds of that weight to take on a more streamlined look for this event. Shadowing Cummings was New Jersey's, Gloria Faulls, who put up a noteworthy fight and by anyone's yardstick, had made the most noticeable improvements in this field since 2014. Faulls was a frequent competitor last year competing in six events, but no doubt one of her fervent goals here was to improve on the sixth-place finish she landed at the New York Pro last year. Mission accomplished.
Both Cummings and Faulls showed brilliant stage presence and confidence to go with physiques that were impeccably prepared and complete in the accumulation of well-shaped musculature and overall structural balance. Both would be unanimous vote-getters for their respective placings with Cummings claiming the top spot and Faulls as the bridesmaid. And for both, their placings were the best they had achieved at the pro level with Cummings eclipsing a runner-up finish at the bodybuilding Battle of Champions in 2012, and Faulls topping a fourth spot at the Greater Gulf States Pro Physique last year.
Third went to Jennifer Hernandez from Florida. Essentially coming out of nowhere, Hernandez competed once in Physique last year placing seventh at the Tampa Pro. Turning pro in Figure at the NPC Masters Nationals and Team Universe in 2009, Hernandez competed in over a half dozen shows in the pro Figure division with a variety of placings ranging from 5th at the Australian Grand Prix to 20th at the Phoenix Pro. Clearly her transition to the Physique division has been a blessing where contest placements are concerned, and her third-place finish here gives her valuable points towards the Olympia Qualification along with third-place prize money.
If you're keeping score, fourth-place finisher Tamee Marie is one of the Physique division's winningest competitors having won five previous events including the 2014 Titans Grand Prix last November after the Olympia. Only Juliana Malacarne has won more pro Physique events. Marie's win at the Titan show qualified her for the Olympia this year and she was back to her eye-catching look that propelled her victories in the past. At 5-9, Marie has been one of the taller contestants in the Physique division, but more and more women at that height and taller are now entering this division. How that fact will impact how competitors between 5-0 and 5-3 is difficult to foresee, but judges will be looking at a considerably wider range of physiques sooner rather than later. So far Marie's height hasn't been a detriment to her placings among many shorter contestants.
Fifth-placer Ayanna Carroll from Maryland has enjoyed a relatively consistent range of placings during her exploits in the Physique division. In 2012 she posted a fourth-place spot at the New York Pro and third at 
the Europa Show of Champions. Last year she experienced a roller coaster ride with a fifth-place finish at the Omaha Pro before plummeting to 16th at the Europa Supershow - a result that has followed the fluidity of judging as the division continues with its growing pains. But this year Carroll splashed back on the scene in impressive fashion displaying outstanding overall condition to capture the Show of Champions in Orlando qualifying her for the Physique Olympia. Her fifth-place finish at this contest may have been a somewhat anti-climactic result after her victory just a week earlier, but no harm done. She'll occupy a spot in the Physique Olympia lineup knowing she can use the rest of the year to put finishing touches on her well-balanced physique for the Big Show.
Meanwhile Georgian Candrea Judd-Adams - the Physique division's most frequent entrant over the past two years - was probably suffering from a bit of shell-shock with her placing after winning the Spartan Pro in San Diego and qualifying for the Physique Olympia. Here she found herself mired in a tie for 16th. To say the least, that's a rough roller coaster ride to endure in just a week's time!
As another indication of just how competitive this contest has always been, two contestants who competed in last year's Physique Olympia missed making the top five here as Heather Grace placed 9th, and Jillian Reville followed in 11th.
The Final Results
1- Michelle Cummings, New York
2- Gloria Faulls, New Jersey
3- Jennifer Hernandez, Florida
4- Tamee Marie, Nebraska
5- Ayanna Carroll, Maryland
6- Fabiola Boulanger, Canada
7- Jessica Gaines, Texas
8- Marcie Simmons, Illinois
9- Heather Grace, Colorado
10- Margarita Charaim, Illinois
11- Jillian Reville, Connecticut
12- Mascha Tieken, Netherlands
13- Loana Muttoni, Brazil
14- Roxanne Edwards, New York
15- Tracy Hess, Pennsylvania
16- Candrea Judd-Adams, Georgia
16- Orlandina Balan, New York
16- Olga Beliakova, Russia
16- Laura Davies, Canada
16- Cassandra Floyd, Georgia
16- Nathalie Foreau, France
16- Jody Garland, Arizona
16- Katrina Kyptova, Czech Republic
16-Jehina Malik, New York
16- Donna McGinn, Maryland
16- Geraldine Morgan, Chile
16- Miava Nelson, New Jersey
16- Jennifer Palazzo, New York
16- Katie Sauter, Maryland
16- Patricia Watson, Virginia
DNF - Dolly Lazarre, New York
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