In a tough superheavyweight battle – in what may have been the best top five in a superheavy class ever at the USAs – Omar Deckard edged out Leo Ingram, then went on to capture the 2006 USA overall title and the coveted pro card that comes along with it July 29 on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In the heavyweight ranks, Michael Ergas avenged a close and controversial loss at the 2005 NPC Nationals to win the class here at the USAs over second-place Lionel Brown, while Adorthus Cherry finished third, a mere point behind the L-Train.
Both Deckard and Ergas fought back tears after winning their respective classes, fitting considering the long roads each took to finally get to the pros. Deckard has been aiming for the honor since first competing at the USAs in 2000; the last two years, he was third in the super-heavies in Vegas. And Ergas was on the verge of retiring after falling to Jonathan Rowe at the ’05 Nationals; friends and others in the industry helped talk him out of it, and it’s a good thing they were successful.
Meanwhile, Ingram, who serves in the military and is based in Hawaii, was left to settle for the hollow victory of becoming the best bodybuilder in the NPC amateur ranks today – he absolutely deserves a pro card, and still has a chance to earn one this year if he decides to enter the North American Championships or Nationals later this fall.
In the remaining classes, Florida’s Randy Chaney II displayed a notable physique (and a remarkable facial resemblance to Flex Wheeler) in winning the light heavyweight division over Knoxville, Tennessee’s Peter Putnam. Las Vegas local Gregory Peeples was more than “The Peeples’ Champ” on this night as he took the middleweight crown. The welterweights were topped by Perry McRae of Pinehurst, North Carolina, lightweights by Alex Azarian of Sunland, California, and bantamweights by a very deserving Fernando Abaco of Rocklin, California.
Following are the final results of all the USA men’s bodybuilding, women’s bodybuilding and figure competitions.
Scroll down to bottom of the page for links to the galleries
2006 NPC USA BODYBUILDING & FIGURE CHAMPIONSHIPS July 28-29, Las Vegas Nevada
Men’s Bodybuilding
Men’s Bantamweight 1. Fernando Abaco 2. 2. John Ligsay Jr. 3. Recus Williams 4. Dewayne Warner 5. Eric Chesser
Men’s Welterweight 1. Perry McRae 2. Jesse Sabater 3. Albert Diaz 4. Steve Kamya 5. Ralph Gaxiola 6. Lashawn Gonzales
Men’s Middleweight 1. Gregory Peeples 2. Darron Glenn 3. George Maiorano 4. Scott Turner 5. James Allen 6. Damon Aviles 7. Julius Rumingan 8. Allen Sarkiscadeh 9. Cesar Moscoso 10. Jeffrey Walden 11. Marcelo Caraveo 12. Ali Washington 13. Brock Bentson 14. Tom Cook 15. Rocky Nehk
Men’s Light Heavyweight 1. Randy Chaney II 2. Peter Putnam 3. Manny Torres 4. William Owens 5. Tamer El-Guindy 6. T.J. Hewitt 7. Ryan Imamura 8. Mark Erpelding 9. Charles Dixon 10. Neko Roberson 11. Anthony Delagarza 12. Justin Dees 13. William Ayoubi 14. Jess Agoun 15. David Coleman
2006 USA Figure Championships July 28-29, Las Vegas, Nevada
NOTE: Winner in each class is eligible for her pro card.
Class A: Up to and including 5’2″ 1 Kristen Gomes 2 Meriza Goncalves 3 Sarah Nakajima 4 Jennifer DeJoya 5 Melissa Froio
Class B: Over 5’2 to 5’3″ 1 Felicia Romero 2 Melody Clere 3 Stacy Adams 4 Karen Mullarkey 5 Gale Elie
Class C: Over 5’3″ to 5’4″ 1 Consi Shirlaw 2 Lois Powell 3 Jana Stewart 4 Anna Laratta 5 Michele Naylon
Class D: Over 5’4″ to 5’5″ 1 Angela Terlesky 2 Tana Swink 3 Tracy Guarino 4 Inez Bess 5 Kim Farnell
Class E: Over 5’5″ to 5’6″ 1 Natalie Benson 2 Melissa Thalhamer 3 Stacy Clary 4 Paola Almerico 5 Nola Trimble
Class F: Over 5’6″ 1 Simona Douglas (and overall) 2 Jessica Wright 3 Nancy Georges 4 Catherine Anderson 5 Avis Ware
Prejudging Report
It’s a superheavyweight battle for the overall title at the 2006 USA Championships in Las Vegas. At the conclusion of the prejudging rounds Friday night, July 28, two men were called out one last time for a decisive posedown: Leo Ingram and Omar Deckard. Both were solid and in good condition, and the winner will likely be decided by the details.
One of those details, actually, may be presentation. When each competitor went through his mandatories, it was Ingram who shined, but in the final callout, he all of a sudden seemed a bit off his game, making some critical errors as the judges made their ultimate decision – he stood a bit further back on stage than Deckard, and while Deckard seemed cool and unruffled as he confidently hit his poses, Ingram struggled. It’ll be a close race. Meanwhile, third – and a whole lot of momentum for his next national contest – may go to Robert Hatch of La Quinta, California, although Jerome Ferguson and Rodney Davis are certainly in the mix for that spot.
While it seems the overall is destined for the supers, the heavyweights also had some great physiques – and one major surprise. Adorthus Cherry of Modesto, California, crashed the party of the favorites going into this competition, Mike Ergas and Lionel Brown, and may just take top honors in the class. Ergas wasn’t quite on the mark like he was at the 2006 Nationals, where he arguably should have won the heavyweight title and the pro card that comes with it, while Cherry – despite the bad choice of red hair dye – was sharp as a Ginsu and had a number of improvements over his fifth-place USA performance of last year.
The light-heavies have four contenders, including Randy Chaney II of Florida and William Owens of Peyton, Colorado. Local competitor Manny Torres of Henderson, Nevada, and Knoxville, Tennessee’s Peter Putnam also made first callout. Any of those four winning would not be a surprise, but Chaney probably has the upper hand, although he could use some more muscle on his frame before he’s ready for a pro card.
The Finals will be held at Artemus Ham Hall on the UNLV campus at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, July 29. Check back to Flexonline after the show for all the results, including who earns the two coveted pro cards.
Scroll to bottom of this page for links to the galleries
2006 NPC USA Bodybuilding, Fitness & Figure Championships July 28-29, Las Vegas Nevada
Men’s Bodybuilding Competitors numbers and order they appear in the gallery
BANTAMWEIGHTS 1 Eric Chesser 2 Dewayne Warner 3 John Ligsay Jr. 4 Fernando Abaco 5 Recus Williams
LIGHTWEIGHTS 6 Alex Azarian 7 Allan Terrell 8 Brian Mercado 9 Mace Oropeza 10 Art Santellan 11 Mike Davis 12 Travis Rogers 13 Joe Bustamante 14 Bradley Sikes 15 Dayne Nishijima
WELTERWEIGHTS 16 Ralph Gaxiola 17 Albert Diaz 18 Jesse Sabater 19 Steve Karnya 20 Lashawn Gonzales 21 Perry McRae MIDDLEWEIGHTS 22 Tom Cook 23 Rocky Nehk 24 Cesar Moscoso 25 Daniel Rocha 26 Ali Washington 27 Gregory Peeples 28 Brock Bentson 29 Julius Rumingan 30 Damon Aviles 31 Jeffrey Walden 32 Scott Turner 33 Jonathan Morisoli 34 James Allen 35 George Maiorana 36 Darron Glenn 37 Allen Sarkiscadeh 38 Marcelo Caraveo
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS 39 David Fisch 40 Scottie Simon 41 Justin Dees 42 Michael Smith 43 Chris Hobbs 44 Randy Chaney II 45 Charles Dixon 46 Manny Torres 47 Jess Aguon 48 Anthony Delagarza 49 Ryan Imamura 50 Tamer El-Guindy 51 William Owens 52 Frank Nezdoba 53 Mark Erpelding 54 Nathan Detracy 55 Peter Putnam 56 Kyle Witherspoon 57 Monty Mabry 58 Robert McAdory 59 Danny Samaniego 60 William Ayoubi 61 Mark Alvisi 62 Neko Roberson 63 Luis Velez 64 T.J. Hewitt 65 David Coleman 66 Christopher Wright 67 Odis McCullough 68 Curtis McGovert 69 Martin Sandoval
MENS HEAVYWEIGHTS 70 Jason Palafox 71 Grigory Atoyan 72 Chris Lacascia 73 Sean Calder 74 David Dorsey 75 Troy Tate 76 Tyrol Dillard 77 Shiloe Steinmetz 78 George Asmus 79 Lionel Brown 80 Rodney Fisher 81 Michael Ergas 82 Nate Brock 83 Greg Jones 84 Cesar Martinez 85 Dion Johnson 86 Thomas Wooster 87 Jack Colten 88 Rodwick Solomon 89 Dan Decker 90 Dylan Armbrust 91 Gary Harden 92 Charles Dorby 93 Jason Moore 94 Tony Tauala 95 Henrik Thamsian 96 Joe Imperato 97 Rick Sosias 98 Adorthus Cherry 99 Michael Palazzo 100 Lee Banks 101 Carl Lomax 102 David Hughes
SUPERHEAVYWEIGHTS 103 Deshawn Grimez 104 Andy Snider 105 Aaron Rhea 106 Marcos Espinal 107 Leo Ingram 108 Rudy Richards 109 Keith Williams 110 Korbe Ntiforo 111 Reginald Brantley 112 Rodney Davis 113 Robert Hatch 114 Omar Deckard 115 Andy Haman 116 Jerome Ferguson 117 Brian Davies 118 Kenny Gipson 119 Sanjiv Neal 120 Michael Rice 121 Trevor Richardson 122 Malcom Marshall 123 Scott Phillips 124 Ron Stevens 125 Sam Tonikian
