Bethany Howlett was competing again and had come down in size considerably and her placings contine to improve. Ahead of her, though were some familiar national level fitness competitors in Carrie Fickle, and Angela Carney, but ahead of them in 4th was Michelle Galardi, former training partner of IFBB Pro Shannon Meteraud. Galardi had a solid routine, although she seemed to be injured during the finals but was still able to complete her routine on what looked like a strained wrist.
Allyson Mehta had a strong routine as did Karen Kassner, but both also suffered from weak physique round placings.
Women's Bodybuilding
The lightweight women's prejudging was to be the shortest with the smallest class, but the quality of the competition was not lacking. Hot off her win at the Jan Tana amateur show, Mary Ellen Doss came in looking even better than in Roanoke a few weeks before, and took the class over veteran Pam Kusar.
Doss was not only in excellent shape, but with good lines and the best overall package in the group. Tammi Flynn looked excellent and would have probably been worthy of a second place finish ahead of Kusar who wasn't as tight.
Unfortunately, the judges rushed past the prejudging after the top six were called out and there was a total of three rounds of callouts to compare all ten women, which didn't seem to do justice to the rest of the competitors, and the lower placings probably weren't as correct as much as a generalization. In the other classes, there were many folks tied for placings towards the bottom, which was indicative of the callouts.
The middleweight class was the most surprising of the night. Newcomer to the National stage (her first try) Jennifer McVicar of Oklahoma took the title and the overall to earn the lone available pro card for the women's bodybuilding competition.
With a plethora of veteran competitiors on stage alongside her, McVicar held her own, although slightly softer and definitely not as muscular as some of the others, like Mah-Ann Mendoza and Becky Rampey. Mah-Ann was tremendous and it was quite surprising to see her place fourth. She definitely could have deserved to place much higher with her amazing shape and great conditioning.
Dawn Riehl, last year's winner (by default when Mendoza didn't make the night finals), took second this time around. Stacy Garonzik seemed to be the most improved overall as her symmetry was balanced out, and her quads no longer overpowered her physique as they had in the past.
However, it was McVicar who surprised everyone. With piercing eyes, and being one of the younger women on stage, and one of the youngest pros, it will be interesting to see McVicar compete in her first pro show.
The heavyweights were the biggest class in every sense of the word. When the first batch of women were brought out, it was immediately noticable that Lora Ottenad was a dominant competitor. Not only was she huge, coming in at early 170 lbs, she was flanked on one side by Christine Fetzer, who was one of the smaller heavyweights.
The first competitor out was veteran Carmen Brady who was ripped as usual and looked really good. However, this year with the new judging standards, she was penalized for her conditioning. The ultimate victim of that, however was Debi Laszewski. She was in incredible shape and her symmetry was on, as well as having great mature muscle. However, she only placed 7th, which many felt was far too low.
Annie Rivieccio looked fantastic and like Ottenad, was not shredded like Laszewski was, but Robin Parker who was harder placed ahead of her. Then in 5th place was Kathy Johansson who was a lot smoother, so it was hard to tell what the judges were actually looking for.
Michelle Tuggle, who placed right behind Laszewski had a great physique but was a little off and needed to be tighter, but right below her was Carla Haug, who as usual, came in extremely tight and defined.
Christine Fetzer looked good, but standing next to Ottenad did not help. Her lines are nice, and she has a great smile on stage, but placed lower since she was smooth and didn't have the fully symmetry. However, her attitude is excellent and she's chosing to compete in with the physique that she likes, and that alone is quite admirable.
Generally, the class seemed to be the most schizophrenically judged, and if you lined up all the competitors in the order they placed, it would be hard to exactly pick out what it was that the judges were looking for.
It will definitely be interesting to see what the judges go for at the Nationals when all three class winners get their pro cards.
Results:
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| Bodybuilding
Overall: Jennifer McVicar*
Lightweights
1) Mary Ellen Doss
2) Pam Kusar
3) Tammi Flynn
4) Patricia Hamashin
5) Angie Rojas
6) Tricia Travis
7) Stephanie Starr
8) Janet Kaufman
9) Catherine Sanson
10) Pamela Ty
Middleweights
1) Jennifer McVicar*
2) Dawn Riehl
3) Becky Rampey
4) Mah-Ann Mendoza
5) Rae Makhtari
6) Kathie Canepa Sears
7) Robin Herring
8) Kerry Quinn
9) Makeba Moore
10) Yolando Martinez
11) Karen Tucker
12) Karen Aguilera
13) Carrie Ledford
14) Stach Garonzik
15) Beth Eisenman
16) Tracy Mason
17 tie) Charlotte Campbell
17 tie) Malea Jensen
17 tie) Terry Barbiere
Heavyweights
1) Lora Ottenad
2) Robin Parker
3) Annie Rivieccio
4) Carol Quarles
5) Kathy Johnasson
6) Tonia Williams
7) Debi Laszewski
8) Michelle Tuggle
9) Carla Haug
10) Jayne Trcka
11) Dianne Solomon
12) Jeannie Phelps
13) Gwendolyn Malone
14) Carmen Brady
15) Fatima Johnson
16) Shelia Bleck
17) Catherine Wilbert
18 tie) Christine Fetzer
18 tie) Becca Swanson
18 tie) Vonnie Smith
18 tie) Trudy Ireland
18 tie) Nan Allard
18 tie) Melissa Metzler
18 tie) Michelle Falsetta
* earned pro card
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Fitness
Overall: Nicole Hobbs*
Short Class (under 5'2")
1) Nicole Hobbs*
2) Sherma Dillard*
3) Jennifer McKinnon
4) Renee Stewart
5) Allison Bookless
6) Heather McCormick
7) Bebe Giraldo
8) Annie Curstola
9) Selena Zinno
10) Annie Symanski
11) Sidney Harris
12) Stephanie Wilkins
13) Diana Monti
14) Darla Muller
15) Regan Vargo
Medium Class (5'2" to 5'4½")
1) Lisa Reed*
2) Heidi Neubauer*
3) Angel Friend
4) April Carpenter
5) Bethani Terrell
6) Doreen Reck
7) Heather Cox
8) Anna Merchan
9) Gina Tomaseski
10) Patty Garner
11) Eileen Devine
12) Mari Kudla
13) Stephanie Parr
14) Kelli Packard
15) Lori Kimes
16) Sei Ryan
17) Jennie Hanke
18) Angela Semsch
19) Tammy Leady
20) Sandy Gill
21) Angela Wehage
22) Kathy Barnard
23) Michelle Lea Jung
24) Sandie Ward
25 tie) Melyssa St. Michael
25 tie) Alicia Uberuaga
25 tie) Jodie Tate
Tall Class (over 5'4½")
1) Abbie Appel*
2) Julie Palmer*
3) Beth Horn
4) Michelle Galardi
5) Angela Carney
6) Carrie Fickle
7) Bethany Howlett
8) Celeste Chance
9) Tracey Greenwood
10) Karen Kassner
11) Soumaya Wilmore
12) Laura Schoonekase
13) Deborah Bullman
14) Brandee Hughes
15) Allyson Mehta
16) Lea Waide
17) Sara Waide
18) Teresa Hardesty
19) Cathy Nordyke
20) Dawn Thomas
21) Akondaye Fountain
* earned pro card
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Las Vegas once again hosted the NPC USA Championships after skipping the city in 1999 to go to Santa Monica. As in years past, the weather was hot and the competition was as well, with an unprecendented number of competitors in both the fitness and bodybuilding shows.
When they were doing the physique rounds (1-piece and 2-piece) the judges seemed to really rush the later callouts (this was not just in fitness, but in all of the women's fitness and bodybuilding) which seemed unfair to the women as it seemed like they weren't really judging them with as much care as the higher finishers. It is more about who the best competitors are, but it seems that every competitor deserves the same amount of consideration. If there are too many women in the show, they could possibly add in a pre-elimination round or make qualifying more difficult.
