{"id":355423,"date":"2021-11-09T06:04:04","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T20:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=355423"},"modified":"2021-11-09T06:04:04","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T20:04:04","slug":"355423","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/355423\/","title":{"rendered":"Iakopo, Long top women\u2019s competitions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Filomenaleonisa
Filomenaleonisa Iakopo won the women\u2019s figure category of 2021 Dee Clayton Classic last Saturday night at the Saipan World Resort. (MICHAEL JORNAL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One is following the footsteps of her champion bodybuilder father, while the other is carrying the hopes of an entire island as the first-ever representative of Tinian in the Dee Clayton Classic.<\/p>\n

Filomenaleonisa Iakopo and Cielo Long did their family and home island proud after topping the figure and bikini portions, respectively, of the 2021 Dee Clayton Classic held last Saturday at the Saipan World Resort.<\/p>\n

Iakopo, the daughter of Stanley who is a champion bodybuilder himself and the executive officer of the CNMI Office of Veterans Affairs, won the figure category after scoring 9 points from judges Jonas Barcinas, Dan Chase, and Ferdinand Lagmay.<\/p>\n

The 15-year-old Kagman High School student said bodybuilding is just another sport in a long line of sports she\u2019s taken a liking to.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of sports and will definitely continue [with bodybuilding]\u2026It has just a lot of discipline, a lot of self-control, a lot of hard work, sacrifices.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also took time to dedicate her figure title to her parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI dedicate this first to God and to my parents\u2014my mom and my dad, who have always supported me throughout this journey. They\u2019ve always been my side and asking if I\u2019m OK. Always making sure that I\u2019m always reaching my goals. Anybody who wants to get into health and fitness, definitely do it as it\u2019s always good for you.<\/p>\n

Iakopo also tipped her hat to organizer Dee Clayon for holding the 10th Dee Clayton Classic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you so much to miss Dee Clayton for having this event still even if there\u2019s this COVID. Thank you so much. It\u2019s such a good event. It went smoothly and it\u2019s perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming in second in the figure category was Jamila Alegre (8 points), while third place went to Christina Tudela (7 points).<\/p>\n

\"Cielo
Cielo Long won the women\u2019s bikini category of 2021 Dee Clayton Classic last Saturday night at the Saipan World Resort. (MICHAEL JORNAL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Long, who finished with 7 points to win the bikini category, said she just hopes to inspire others in her home island to spread their wings and take part in competitions outside of Tinian or pick up bodybuilding as a sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to say I\u2019m extremely grateful for this opportunity and I hope I can serve as someone that motivate other people who want to do this, who\u2019d like to engage to do this type of discipline and that it\u2019s possible. I\u2019m only 17 and I\u2019m from Tinian and Tinian\u2019s first competitor [in the Dee Clayton Classic]. So I\u2019m just glad that I get to represent them in my behalf,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The daughter of Tinian businessman Philip Mendiola-Long said sometimes people really don\u2019t understand the preparation that goes behind bodybuilding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very strict and you learn a lot about yourself in the process. You really get to understand what fuels yourself and what is properly able to be consumed. You also engage in extreme workouts\u2014high reps, high weight, low reps, low weight. It can range from anywhere. It\u2019s very strict but it\u2019s a great experience,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Long also reiterated how proud she is representing Tinian in the Dee Clayton Classic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love my home. I love my island and I\u2019m just glad to be their first competitor from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mijana Malabayabas finished second to Long in the bikini category with 6 points, while Divine Sablan was third with 5 points.<\/p>\n

In the fitness category, Vanessa Lorejo triumphed with a perfect score of 9 points followed by Desolee Calayo and Rosana Lopez with 6 points and 4 points apiece. Jamila Alegre was the lone entry in the women\u2019s physique category and won, while the fitness pageant portion was topped by Amy Alano with Annie Tampus and Connie Quidato finishing second and third, respectively.<\/p>\n

Results of the other categories of the 2021 Dee Clayton Classic will be published in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One is following the footsteps of her champion bodybuilder father, while the other is carrying…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":355427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-355423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-saipan-tribune"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}