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Local bodybuilders succeed at Provincials

The Saskatchewan Amateur Body Building Association (SABBA) held its annual Provincial championships on Saturday, June 14 in Regina and six of the seven Yorkton athletes taking part placed third or higher, with Carter Kostenuk taking home the big hono
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All of Carter Kostenuk's hard work paid off as he was named the Provincial Overall Men's Bodybuilding champion at the 2014 SABBA Provincials in Regina this past weekend.


The Saskatchewan Amateur Body Building Association (SABBA) held its annual Provincial championships on Saturday, June 14 in Regina and six of the seven Yorkton athletes taking part placed third or higher, with Carter Kostenuk taking home the big honours as he was named the Overall Men's Bodybuilding Champion for the first time in his short four year competitive career.

In fact Kostenuk was selected by all the judges as the consensus number one pick as he finished with a score of five, the best possible score anyone can get in a competition and six points higher than his closest competitor Alden Hagel (second with 11).

Kostenuk, and his training partner and coach Alicia Simoneau, believed he had the potential to become the Overall champion at some point, however Kostenuk, 24, didn't think the honours would be his so early in his career. "Honestly I didn't expect to get it this quick but it happened and I'm pretty happy about it," mentioned Kostenuk. "Winning Overall (Provincially) is a big accomplishment of mine and it's the first major competition I've won."

Normally the next step for any Provincial champion in any sport would be Nationals. However, with the way bodybuilding works, Kostenuk can take some time off to prepare himself for the National competition and even skip the next couple to ensure he would be able to seriously compete. That's because anyone who wins the Overall title, like Kostenuk has done, has also earned the right to qualify for Canadian Nationals instantly, without having to go through Provincials again. "Being the Overall winner I get a lifetime bye to the National competition so I don't have to do Provincials again if I don't want to," quoted the new Provincial champion. "I'm thinking in two years I'll do Nationals. I want to take a little time and bulk up a little bit more because the level from Provincials to Nationals is a pretty big jump so it will take a couple of years to get to that level."

Another local bodybuilder that saw a large amount of success this past weekend was Kostenuk's training partner and coach, Alica Simoneau.

Simoneau, 36, placed third in Master Women's Figures, a competition for women aged 35 and over, before winning the open category of Women's Figure Medium.

Simoneau also placed second in the Overall Figure competition behind Jacqueline Cuthbert. And while her main goal is to one day win an Overall competition of her own, helping Kostenuk win an Overall title in just his fourth year of competition is easily a nice consolation prize. "When he's on stage it feels like I'm on stage," mentioned Simoneau. "When he wins I win because he's a product of what we've been doing for the last few years and I'm very proud of him for what he has accomplished."

But don't misunderstand her. Simoneau is not satisfied with seeing Kostenuk win an Overall championship. She still wants one of her own. "Every time I go I want to win the whole thing," offered the owner of Yorkton's Pumphouse Athletic Club. "My goal is to win a Provincial Overall so you'll see me back there again gunning for a first place Overall."

Other results

In addition to Kostenuk's Heavyweight Men's Bodybuilding and Provincial Overall titles , as well as Simoneau's third place in Master Women's Figures and first in Women's Figure Medium, five other Yorkton athletes, some of which no longer reside within the city, also participated in the 2014 SABBA Provincials.

Former Yorkton Terrier player and current assistant coach John Odgers placed second in the Junior Men category with a score of 10. He also finished third in the Middleweight Men's Bodybuilding competition with a score of 15.

Former Yorkton resident Holly Weselowski (formerly Legge), now residing in Saskatoon, finished fifth in the Women's Bikini Medium competition with a score of 23 in what was just her first time competing on the Provincial stage.

PAC trainer Celeste Penner finished eighth in Master Women's Figure with a score of 36 before finding the podium in Women's Figure Tall with a third place score of 17.

Two other Yorkton women, Denise Kominetsky and Theresa Mysko, placed first in their respective categories with Kominetsky coming in first in Women's Figures Tall with a score of five while Mysko also picked up the best possible score, a five, in winning the Women's Physique competition.