Men's Middleweights
Competitor names and numbers:
Middleweights
162 Sean Smith
163 Jerry Miller
164 Cesar Moscoso
165 Stoil A. Stoilov
166 Robert Ambersley
167 Garrett Allin
168 Dustin Mayan
169 Darron Glenn
170 Dave Tuttle
171 Guillermo Escalante
172 Jesse Duque
173 Todd Scott
174 Julius Rumingan
175 Jorge Betancourt
176 Alfredo Santana
177 Anthony Marmon
178 Daniel Rocha
179 Anthony Watkins
180 Patrick Lewis
181 Kevin Creeden
182 Marco Teixeira
183 Leonardo Nimo
184 Ronald Torres
185 Marcelo Caraveo
There are 24 middleweights, which means there may be an elimination down to the top 15 right away after the judges get their first look at the lineup.
We're now in the initial quarter turns with all the competitors. This class encompasses men from 1651/4 pounds to 1761/4 pounds.
Now individuals for their one-minute routines, starting with Sean Smith from good old Calumet City, Illinois (go Bears!).
Interestingly, it looks like they aren't going to do their usual pare-down of a big class like this to top 15 -- every guy is getting his shot to individually pose for the judges.
Robert Ambersley from Manhattan, New York is up, weighing in at 172 pounds. Still in the first third of the individual posing, meaning we're about 20 minutes away from the callouts in this class.
By the way, go to http://www.flexonline.com/news/172 for photos of the earlier classes. We are putting Kevin Horton's photos up during the show tonight, every class all the way through superheavies.
These earlier classes are all competitive, but starting with the next class, we really get into the top guys, with contenderss who can make an immediate impact in the pros if they snag an IFBB card. Some of the top names to come in those classes are Stan McQuay, Grigori Atoyan, Jason Huh, Adorthus Cherry, Lionel Brown, Jerome Ferguson, Rudy Richards, Evan Centopani, and more.
Callout 1: Garrett Allin, Darron Glenn, Todd Scott, Anthony Watkins and Kevin Creeden. Allen, Glenn and Watkins seem to be fighting for top 3.
Callout 2: Stoil A. Stoilov (winning name of the night so far), Robert Ambersley, Jorge Betancourt, and Sean Smith.
Callout 3: Cesar Moscosco, Jesse Duque, Ronald Torres, Aldredo Santana, Julus Rumingan, and Anthony Marmon. All these guys are fighting for the final top 10 spot, presumably, so while they're probably disappointed at the lower callout, it's still important. A top 10 placing at the nationals is a big accomplishment to build on for future USA and Nationals contests.
Last 9 are up, in a group of five and then four. We're about to move on to light-heavyweights.