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1997 Jan Tana Classic Report
1997 Jan Tana Classic

1997 Jan Tana Classic



This year the Jan Tana Classic and Pro Fitness Challenge took place in Charlotte, NC on August 15 & 16, 1997 at the NC Performing Arts Center.

There were two portions to the weekend: the NPC National Qualifier and IFBB Olympia Qualifier (I'll call this the Pro show from now on). The show for the most part was well organized except for the idiot emcee who was totally clueless. The venue in Charlotte was great and for the evening show finals, the place was packed nicely.

First off i'll recap the Pro Fitness portion which was fairly competitive. Overall winner Theresa Hessler looked good, but she's already won the show before. However, as you would have surmised from her routine, whe wanted the crown back (much like guest poser Lenda Murray wants her Ms O crown back this year). Coming out doing a "Terminator" type routine moving robotically, she then went into a standard type routine, although her moves were solid and she has great stage presence. Runner up Stephanie Worsfold had the best attitude and personality on stage (actually Marie Allegro was the most positive - as it too perky).

"...if she didn't hit it, she would have been knocked unconcious."
She's a Canadian competitor that looks really good and had a solid routine. Melissa Frabiele looked good and had a decent routine, but Skye Ryland looked too muscular for fitness, although that's what i liked about her, and her routine was below average.
Michele Ralabate had the most impressive move in a routine with her first move being some crazy, sick gymnastics move where she did a complete flip about twice and on the second one did a twist (you'd have to see this to understand, but it looked like if she didn't hit it, she would have been knocked unconcious).

The Pro women was the best part of the show. During prejudging, it became clear who the judges liked and what they liked to some extent. While most of the top callouts went to the same ripped women, Leisa Lewis who was smooth, kept getting called out and Amelia Hernandez, who came in with great conditioning, was not even called out once in the first round.

Lewis has great size, but not the muscle maturity or hardness to compete with the other top women at the show, but i guess that's par for the course with politics in fBB.... Chris Bongiovanni was so ripped, as she stood there, if she made the slightest twitch, you could see each individual muscle fiber move - it was impressive.
"Denise <Masino> had to pull up her implants so that you could actually see her abs..."
Binetti also came in looking the best that I have ever seen her, and her normally blocky looking waist was gone, and her hair made her total package look tremendous. Valerie Gangi looked fantastic with great aesthetics and came in ripped as well. These three were tremendous and although i didn't personally have a problem with Gayle Moher being 4th, many felt she deserved higher. Don't get me wrong, she looked sharp, but i felt those above her deserved their placings. Yaxeni Oriquen was looking great with her long flowing lines and exotic Venezualan look, and Denis Masino looked nice with added size on, but not quite as hard as the other women. In one ab pose, Denise had to pull up her implants so that you could actually see her abs...yes, i have to say that they are just way too big, IMHO. The top seven in my opinion should have been (in order) Bongiovanni, Gangi, Binetti, Yaxeni, Moher, Hernandez, Masino.

During the posing routines, Amelia really shined. Her routine really got the crowd fired up doing a slow intro with a Beavis and Butthead segue into White Zombie's More Human than Human, which was perfect for her. She hit each bodypart during her routine, pointing and flexing them much to the approval of the crowd who was cheering her on, after she was obviously overlooked during most of prejudging. Laura Binetti was probably the crowd favorite over all, and her routine was also quite entertaining as well. Many of the European competitors had elegant routines and overall they were pretty solid. Frederique Auchart from France was so cute and a nice woman, although speaking to her consisted of moving my hands around and nodding my head and trying to ask questions while she smiled back and said "yes" a lot.

During the annuoncement of the results, Binetti's fans were booing her placement and Jan Tana got defensive and in essence told the crowd that if they weren't at prejudging, they don't know half of the story. It was kind of funny, but strange at the same time... she shouldn't be concerned about what the results are since she's not involved with the results (or is she?)... There was one peculiarity in the announcements as the BBs were announced first and the fitness women last. I thought they saved the main event for last, which I could have sworn was the IFBB Olympia qualifier. After the fBBs and then fitness placings were announced, Jan Tana took Bongiovanni and Hessler and raised their hands while the other four fitness competitors stood in the middle of the stage and the other four fBBs were off to the left looking a little confused (who wasn't at that point, with the idoit emcee not knowing the damn difference between BBs and fitness women - was he even paying attention to anything he was saying all night?? he could never get Lynea Brehm's name right even though it looked like she was telling it to him each time she was about to get on stage...sheesh!)


After the show was the banquet, which was nice. Most of the competitors were there and I was fortunate enough to eat at a table with Mary Ellen Warman and Amelia Hernandez among others. Lots of pictures being taken and a few very annoying "photojournalists" bugging all the women even after being asked to stop shooting. I have to say, that when they opened up the dance floor, it was pretty sad to see that none of the fBBs could dance! My friend Mark was dancing with Bongiovanni and she didn't move well. The best person out there was some fitness woman who didn't compete, and she definitely could move.

Miscellaneous Notes: Canada's the place to be! Lisa Dulovic, a fitness competitor is a knockout. She's in the Sept. 1997 WPW and in person is even better looking. She's pretty serious about fitness and good friends with runner up Stephanie Worsfold. Look for her at the '98 Arnold's Classic.

Also overheard from a woman who was friends with the judges and sitting right behind them... "I've got these ear impressions on my inner thighs..." ... you figure that one out...

Check out the Jan Tana image gallery here!

Results
NPC National Qualifier:IFBB Pro:
Fitness:
1) Damarus Garrison
2) Chatra Joseph (formerly Burford)
5) Lisa Payne

Bodybuilding:
LW: Sandy Sorrent (sp?)
MW: Shannon Lester (Overall winner)
HW: Kathy Sigmund

Bodybuilding:

Click here for the page with photos of many of these athletes

1) Chris Bongiovanni
2) Valerie Gangi
3) Laura Binetti
4) Gayle Moher
5) Leisa Lewis
6) (tie) Yaxeni Oriquen
6) (tie) Denise Masino - home page
8) Jacqueline deGenaro
9) Elena Kurakova
10) Paula Suzuki
11) Dyana Cadeau
12) Amelia Hernandez
13) Rozanne Keyser
14) Renee Casella
15) Betty Pariso
16) Desiree Ellis
17) Martha Sanchez
18) Birgitta Carlsson
19) (tie) Inna Uit
19) (tie) Lohani Rochi
21) (tie) Frederique Auchart
21) (tie) Donna Logue
21) (tie) Viviana Violante
21) (tie) Lynea Brehm
21) (tie) Mary Ellen Warman
21) (tie) Alicia Alfaro
21) (tie) Carmella Cureton

Fitness:
1) Theresa Hessler - web site
2) Stephanie Worsfold
3) Melissa Frabiele
4) Skye Ryland
5) Michele Ralabate


Last updated December 10, 2000 - updated broken images formerly hosted by my good friends at Cybermuscle.


       

     

     

       

     

       

       

       

       

       

       

      

     

       

       

       

       

       

       

      

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

      

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

     

       

       

       

       

       

       

      

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

      

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

      

       

       

       

       

       

       

      

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

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