{"id":393791,"date":"2023-06-14T06:03:03","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T20:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=393791"},"modified":"2023-06-14T06:03:03","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T20:03:03","slug":"iakopo-long-are-overall-champions-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/iakopo-long-are-overall-champions-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Iakopo, Long are overall champions again"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From left, Filomenaleonisa Iakopo, the Figure overall champion and Jastine Doria pose for a photo during the awarding of the 2023 Dee Clayton Classic and Northern Marianas Bodybuilding and Physique Federation Championships last Saturday evening at the Saipan World Resort\u2019s Taga Hall.(LEIGH GASES)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Filomenaleonisa Iakopo is the Figure overall champion and Cielo Long is the overall champion of the Bikini category of the 2023 Dee Clayton Classic and Northern Marianas Bodybuilding and Physique Federation Championships last Saturday evening at the Saipan World Resort\u2019s Taga Hall.<\/p>\n

Iakopo won the Figure overall title against Jastine Doria, while Long took home the Bikini overall title against Liekeila\u2019akata Iakopo.<\/p>\n

For 17-year-old Filomenaleonisa, who competed last 2021 and also won the Figure overall championship, she said that all that she went through preparing for this competition was worth it.<\/p>\n

How she felt winning this time around, \u201cI feel very blessed. It was a really hard journey,\u201d she said. \u201cI wanted to come back on stage and defend my title and it was really all about myself beating my own physique from last time. I pushed myself with dieting, I cut water which was the hardest part for me. I could say I did not enjoy my preparation, but it\u2019s the results and the discipline. Even if I did not win, it was still a reward in itself, just because of the hard work that you put yourself through, and the growth you put yourself through\u2014that is the reward.\u201d
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From left, Cielo Long, the overall champion of the Bikini category, and Liekeila\u2019akata Iakopo, pose for a photo during the awarding of the 2023 Dee Clayton Classic and Northern Marianas Bodybuilding and Physique Federation Championships last Saturday evening at the Saipan World Resort\u2019s Taga Hall.(LEIGH GASES)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

She added, \u201cI\u2019m just extremely thankful. I want to give my thanks to coach Derek Cutting\u2014he is the one who trained my brothers and sister and I. My mother and father who have always supported us, who kept us going, and who always believed in each and everyone of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for 18-year-old Long, this is her second overall title in a row. Long, who returned to Saipan for summer vacation just before Typhoon Mawar reached the Marianas, said that after winning again, \u201cI feel great. It\u2019s an honor to be back home and doing the thing I love with people that I love.\u201d<\/p>\n

About the competition, she said, \u201cThis is a sport that I\u2019ve always loved since high school so it\u2019s nice to be on stage and be with the people I knew in high school, and just to be back home with amazing and strong individuals. It was a great competition and the turnout was pretty great too.\u201d
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<\/a>
Eva Weaver, second from left, is the Fitness Pageant overall champion of the 2023 Dee Clayton Classic and Northern Marianas Bodybuilding and Physique Federation Championships last Saturday evening at the Saipan World Resort\u2019s Taga Hall.(LEIGH GASES)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

For her preparation this time around, she said she didn\u2019t prepare as long as she did for the past two competitions, but she said that with her physique now, she \u201cdefinitely felt more comfortable\u2026 I feel like I\u2019ve grown. I know my areas around the sport. I know how to prep\u2014I\u2019m familiar with the routines and protocols that you have to endure to do a show like this. So, I feel very proud of myself and the rest of the competitors as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the Mixed Pairs category, father-and-daughter duo, Stanley and Filomenaleonisa, were the only competitors and won the title; Jastine Doria was the lone competitor in the Women\u2019s Physique division and won first place; and in the Fitness Pageant category, Eva Weaver won the overall title against three others. Nicolette Martin won first in the short Fitness Pageant category, Le\u2019ana Lizama won second, and Antonette Martin won third.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sponsors of the event included Megabyte of Saipan, Tan Siu Lin Foundation, Marianas Visitors Authority, Gold\u2019s Gym, Latte Built Gym, Saipan World Resort, Rozelle Printing, Top Notch, Power 99, Glushko\u2019s Academy of Performing Arts, Foremost, Island Touch by Philip, and Coca-Cola Beverage Micronesia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Filomenaleonisa Iakopo is the Figure overall champion and Cielo Long is the overall champion of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":393753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-393791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393791","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\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}