Dressed predominantly in chiseled muscles and posing oil, 25 contestants competed in the 2025 Michelob Ultra NPC Guam National Bodybuilding Championship Saturday night at the Rihga Royal Laguna Guam, in Tamuning.<\/p>\n
In a spectacle that excited adoring fans, supportive families and, of course, strength coaches and nutritionists, Jerome Diyco, Ian Milan, Nicole Raqueno and Maria San Nicolas, in their categories, were named as the overall winners.<\/p>\n
For the 32-year-old San Nicolas, who competed in the women\u2019s bikini open class C division, the mother-of two placed first in the division and first overall. As the super fit mother walked up the stairs and onto the stage, dozens of \u00a0supporters stood up and cheered – for the crowd-favorite who was gracing the stage in her first-ever competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s been a lot of sacrifice for me the past few months, especially being a mom of two, a wife, a full-time employee of the federal government,\u201d San Nicolas said. \u201cIt\u2019s just been a dream to do this for so many years, and I’m just so happy that my hard work has paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Nicolas told the Post she likes to challenge herself – one of the reasons she entered the competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I can do it with being a mom of two, with household responsibilities, a husband to cater to, I think anybody that is open and willing to do it, they should go for it,\u201d she said. \u201cLife’s too short. You\u2019ve got to start living.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jerome Diyco<\/strong><\/p>\n Whereas San Nicolas had never before competed in such an event, Jerome Diyco, 25, entered as an experienced athlete. In 2024, he placed first in the men\u2019s classic physique – open class B division, but was not selected as the overall winner. One year later, and competing in the same division, Diyco earned the top spot and was awarded as the overall winner – edging Barry Fine by what appeared to be an incredibly thin margin.<\/p>\n As the Diyco and Fine flexed to impress the judges, competitively and playfully facing each other as their sculpted bodies evoked cheer from the hundreds of fans in attendance, Diyco was named the overall winner of the classic physique category. As Diyco\u2019s name was announced, he dropped to the floor as he \u00a0displayed emotion.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I dropped to the ground, all I could feel was nothing but being grateful,\u201d said Diyco, who also placed first in the men’s bodybuilding – open lightweight division.<\/p>\n \u201cI just want to thank the Lord, God for putting me through this, my team, my coach, Mike (Duay) and Team Next Level. I can’t feel anything but just being grateful. It was a long journey, honestly, 20-week prep,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ian Milan<\/strong><\/p>\n For the 28-year-old Ian Milan, who told the Post he hadn\u2019t competed in such an event for three years, said \u201cit was good to be back.\u201d<\/p>\n Pleased with placing first in the men’s physique – open class A division, and honored to have been chosen as the overall winner, Milan reflected on his success humbly.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most important thing is never let a win get to your head and a loss get to your heart,\u201d he said. \u201cYour discipline should be louder than your doubt and your vision should be stronger than your feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n Milan, sidelined by life, knew he would return to the sport.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew if there was always a way, I\u2019d find myself back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Nicole Raqueno<\/strong><\/p>\n In the women\u2019s wellness – open division, Nicole Raqueno, 24, was declared the winner. With a sparkling bikini and a pleasant smile, she impressed the judges as she defeated three competitors.<\/p>\n Raqueno described the experience of winning as \u201cvery humbling.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn’t be here without the amazing team that went behind it, my coach, Mike Duay, and my posing coach in the States, Nicole Salazar, and honestly, all of this is really just a testament of hard work, continued dedication,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Also, Raqueno thanked God .<\/p>\n \u201cTruthfully, it’s all for Him, just glorify whatever he’s able to do through me. I’m just really excited to be here to give inspiration to others,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Same as the other competitors, in her division and others, sacrifice factored in greatly to her success.<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely sacrificed a lot of fun times in terms of getting to be able to eat all the sweets that I really love. But I think the most rewarding things always come after delayed gratification,\u201d she said. \u201cThe sacrifices never really felt like sacrifices, because I knew that they were working towards the bigger picture.\u201d<\/p>\n 2025 Michelob Ultra NPC Guam National Bodybuilding<\/strong><\/p>\n Championship Results<\/strong><\/p>\n Men’s Bodybuilding – Open Bantamweight<\/p>\n 1st. Jaime Rodriguez<\/p>\n Men’s Bodybuilding – Open Lightweight<\/p>\n 1st. Jerome Diyco<\/p>\n Men’s Bodybuilding – Open Heavyweight<\/p>\n 1st. John Dooley<\/p>\n 2nd. Jason Lee Cruz<\/p>\n Men’s Bodybuilding – Masters 35+<\/p>\n 1st. Jaime Rodriguez<\/p>\n 2nd. Jason Lee Cruz<\/p>\n Men’s Classic Physique – Open Class A<\/p>\n 1st. Jose Gonzalez Rivera<\/p>\n Men’s Classic Physique – Open Class B<\/p>\n 1st. Jerome Diyco<\/p>\n 2nd. Jaquyntin Carter<\/p>\n 3rd. Chesther Suarez<\/p>\n Men’s Classic Physique – Open Class C<\/p>\n 1st. Barry Fine<\/p>\n Women’s Figure – Open Class A<\/p>\n 1st. Rebecca Perez<\/p>\n Men’s Physique – Open Class A<\/p>\n 1st. Ian Milan<\/p>\n 2nd. Jose Gonzalez Rivera<\/p>\n 3rd. Ronnel Lansang<\/p>\n Men’s Physique – Open Class B<\/p>\n 1st. Zachary Criss<\/p>\n Men’s Physique – Open Class C<\/p>\n 1st. Jarwin Espiritu<\/p>\n 2nd. Ryan Kelsey<\/p>\n Men’s Physique – Open Class D<\/p>\n 1st. Dairius Dupont<\/p>\n 2nd. Austin Larremore<\/p>\n Men’s Physique – Masters 35+<\/p>\n 1st. Ronnel Lansang<\/p>\n Women’s Bikini – Open Class A<\/p>\n 1st. Lauren Ashley Baluyot<\/p>\n 2nd. Alexis Leon Guerrero<\/p>\n 3rd. Jania Castor<\/p>\n Women’s Bikini – Open Class C<\/p>\n 1st. Maria San Nicolas<\/p>\n 2nd. Suyoung Kim<\/p>\n Women’s Bikini – Masters 35+<\/p>\n 1st. Suyoung Kim<\/p>\n Women’s Wellness – Open<\/p>\n 1st. Nicole Raqueno<\/p>\n 2nd. Darcie Perez<\/p>\n 3rd. Gabriella Andrade<\/p>\n 4th. Amber Hayes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dressed predominantly in chiseled muscles and posing oil, 25 contestants competed in the 2025 Michelob Ultra NPC Guam…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[8099,1198,8100,210,8101,8102,67,132,68,8103],"class_list":{"0":"post-6685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-bodybuilding","9":"tag-fitness","10":"tag-fitness-and-figure-competition","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-national-physique-committee","13":"tag-strength-athletics","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-weight-training"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114729957639456940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}