1999 NPC USA (Fitness-Medium)
By -jabber


Women's Fitness over 5'2" up to and including 5'4 1/2":

Okay, the "medium" height women (I still think they're short :-) ).  A
whopping 18 women in this class.  In 18th was Bridgette Murray, in 17th was
Krista Cheney.

When I first started watching these competitors, I didn't realize there were
3 height categories (as there still was 2 in San Antonio at the NPC Jr.
Nationals), so when Angela Monteleone-Semsch came out, I said, what did she
grow?  Ha!  Of course, she was at the tall side of the short class
previously, so now fell in the medium height category.  Looking more ripped
(and just as cute facially - a bit too much rouge though) this very
attractive brunette finished 16th.  But as at the Jr. Nationals, she had one
of the most attention-getting (without waving her ass at the audience a la
Ms. Meteraud) maneuvers I'd seen in a long time.  I told everyone around me,
watch this move:  she did her patented 3 or 4 handstand push-ups in the
middle of the stage, not leaning on anything.  As you can tell, I find the
pure strength moves more memorable.

In 15th was Lisa Dixon, in 14th was an out-classed Che' Swagger (although
she recently won the Jr. Nationals, this is as high as she could muster
here), in 13th was Tammy Gowens, in 12th was Peggy Crawford (I talked about
her in other reviews - doing her Grease Peggy Sue routine).

In 11th was a VERY muscular Lindsay Mulinazzi, who DID flex for the audience
a bit, the best-built fitness competitor at the show (and that's saying a
lot - plenty were very nicely-muscled), she really should enter
bodybuilding, an incredible, eye-catching redhead.

In 10th was Stacy Hylton, in 9th was Heather Mosely, in 8th was Christina
Homan, in 7th was Lisa Uzzle, in 6th was Cathy Miller.

In the top 5, at 5th was a very attractive yet pale blonde, Darlena
Kirzoncic, who I'd seen a couple times before (first at the '98 WSE Fitness
Strength Show), in 4th was Cathryn Crane, in 3rd was another '98 WSE Fitness
Strength Show alumni, Cynthia "Abs" Bridges (uh yeah, I remember her).  In
2nd was D.J. Wallis (formerly Julie Wallis - guess she got married or
something :-) ), a great finish for her, she was in better condition than
I'd seen her in the past, but not up to some others finishing lower (such as
Cynthia "Abs" Bridges) or the one who won.

A very muscular and wide and tan blonde (you might have heard of her),
Jennifer Hendershott, won this height category, again without me feeling the
judges did any blundering - hey so far so good.