2012 Los Angeles Pro Grand Prix
Culver City, April 14th: The history of the new Physique division for women may is still in its infancy, but the field for this most recent event helped raise the competitive bar with a decidedly improved group of competitors that also featured a broad range in the variety of their collective physiques. With contestants ranging in height from 4-11 ¾ to 5-9 in addition to entrants making their pro debut, to highly decorated competitors who have had past experience at events as prestigious of the Ms. Olympia and Ms. International, the competitive nature of these Physique events is heating up quickly. Promoted by Jon Lindsay and staged at the Veteran's Auditorium in Culver City, this first annual Los Angeles Grand Prix featured a full complement of amateur events as well as the Pro Men's and Women's Physique divisions, with a total number of entries topping 400 – 16 of which filled the field for the women's Physique division.
Within the sweet sixteen, two previous winners led the way as Karina Nascimento – the Desert Muscle Classic champion - and St. Louis winner Sara Hurrle - raised the question as to whether either might become the first to win two Pro Physique division contests. Of the 16 entered, just four had competed in a previous pro Physique contest with Marina Lopez and Trish Wood joining Nascimento and Hurrle. The remaining dozen were entering this division as rookies – although their contest resumes all showed considerable experience in either bodybuilding, fitness or figure. Making their pro debuts were 2009 NPC National overall bodybuilding champion Kris Murrell, and 2011 NPC National Physique tall class winner Joele Smith. Meanwhile, Brazilian Patricia Mello and New Jersey's Stacy Simons-McDowell added color as entrants who brought Ms. Olympia experience with Mello having competed in two Figure Olympias and McDowell becoming the most decorated competitor to compete in Pro Physique division events with 10 Fitness Olympias and seven Fitness Internationals on her contest resume.
Geographically, this event also revealed the beginning of a broader appeal internationally with Donna Jones coming from Queensland, Australia; Cea Anna Kerr making her way from Estevan; Saskatchewan, Canada; Mascha Tieken from Hillegum, Netherlands; Patricia Mello from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Irina Veselova living in Manalapan, New Jersey, from Russia.
With the first call announced, Nascimento, Hurrle, Mello, and Sabrina Taylor stepped forward. Soon Stacy McDowell was added to that first group with Hurrle moved to the middle. The second call brought Venus Nguyen, Cea Anna Kerr, Carrie Simmons and Joele Smith. Unfortunately, the third callout brought eight women forward spreading across the stage making for a crowded look at this group.. The eight included Kris Murrell, Tonia Moore, Marina Lopez (who was entering her fourth Physique division event), Donna Jones, Mascha Tieken, Trish Wood, Irina Veselova and Nguyen once again. The fourth and final call brought McDowell, Nascimento, Taylor, Hurrle and Mello with Hurrle in the middle – with an additional switch that put Mello in the center spot.
Sara Hurrle may not be familiar with the phrase,”It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, but she can no doubt relate to that statement by remembering back to 2010 when she earned her pro status with the exhilaration of a victory at the NPC Junior Nationals, only to be unceremoniously dunked to a 19th-place finish at the Jacksonville Pro the same year. But things are notably different now, and much more to her liking. She has found a niche in the Pro Physique division with a victory at the LA Pro Grand Prix, and she is the first Pro Physique contestant to actually build a momentum competitively. Competing in her third Physique division event, Hurrle now has a pair of victories (the first to accomplish that feat in this division) along with a runner-up placing at the California Governor's Cup. Consensus of opinion as to her success leads to a beaming stage presence that radiates throughout the auditorium, and in tandem with a nice overall structure and just the right amount of muscular development judges are looking for, she has hit the jackpot thus far. Tonight she pocketed $2,000 as the winner's share to take back to her Colorado home.
Finishing second to Hurrle was statuesque Brazilian Patricia Mello. Like Hurrle, Mello may have found her comfort zone in the Pro Physique division. At 5-9 Mello shows 
striking overall structural qualities, especially in fields where she is considerably taller than her fellow competitors. A runner-up in the 2005 IFBB South American Championships, Mello's experience after turning pro was either feast or famine. Near the end of 2008 in her first year as a pro, Mello finished third at the Kentucky Pro Figure Championships qualifying her for the 2009 Figure Olympia. In 2010 she again placed third, this timeat the New Zealand Pro Figure Championships qualifying for the Olympia again. In both cases she ended up finished 16th, and in virtually every other pro Figure contest she has entered in the past three years she placed no better than 16th. You would have never known it tonight. She stood out in this crowd 'big time', and her placement should redouble her efforts to remain competitive. Prior to moving into the IFBB, Mello experienced notable success in the NABBA Figure division (where a much more highly defined physique is rewarded). There, she won the World and Universe titles in 2004. Tonight she accepted a check for $1,000 for her second-place finish, and a new lease on life as a Physique competitor.
Perhaps the contestant at this event who can best lay claim to the 'flying under the radar' award is Sabrina Taylor. Of course after her third-place finish in her debut as a Physique competitor her showing will quickly pull back the curtain on her streamlined physical qualities. In reality, Sabrina Taylor has always shown the makings of an outstanding physique athlete considering she won the 1997 East Britain Bodybuilding Championships while she was stationed in England while serving in the United States Air Force. Later, Taylor (then Gibson) won the overall NPC Emerald Cup Fitness Championships in 2004 before earning her pro status at the NPC USA the same year. Since then, Taylor has competed in both fitness and figure as a pro nearly a dozen times without cracking the top five at any event. But, like Hurrle and Mello, she now looks to be immediately competitive with a very pleasing v-taper, nice muscle shapes, and sound stage presence from her years of experience in fitness and figure. Her third-place finish was solid, with many observers willing to tip her scale towards the second-place spot. Tonight, she collected $500 for her finish with a strong possibility of more where that came from.
In Karina Nascimento's first return to the stage since winning the Desert Muscle Classic in February, she found herself in a much more competitive atmosphere and a much 
larger field of competitors. Still showing many of the qualities that lifted her to the winner's circle at that inaugural event, Nascimento will now need to work on improving some structural flaws that became more noticeable in this group of contestants. That plus the fact that she had a slight stumble during her routine cost her valuable points and took the edge off her overall stage persona.
Rounding out the top five was Stacy McDowell....better know to most bodybuilding fans as Stacy Simons of fitness fame. For anyone who has watched this outstanding fitness performer over a career that dates back to the mid-90's, you couldn't help but hope she would incorporate one of her remarkable back bends that still leaves everyone believing she was born without a spine. This night the move was not part of her posing routine, but hopefully the top-five finish will be motivation enough for her to re-tool her routine at future Physique division events. Along with McDowell's stunning contest resume that includes all those appearances at the Ms. Olympia and the seven invites to the Fitness International, she has also won two European Pro Fitness Cups in 2003 and '04 along with over 20 top-six finishes at fitness events throughout Europe as well as here at home. She is a welcome addition to this division and with some fine tuning to her overall conditioning level combined with her sound structure she can be competitive anywhere anytime.
Subscribe to RxMuscle on Youtube
