1999 NPC USA (Fitness-Tall and Overall)
By -jabber


Women's Fitness over 5'4 1'2":

Man is that tall!  Just kidding.  In 13th was Cindy Melton, in 12th was
Bethany Howlett (heard of her?).  Interestingly, when I saw her at her debut
at the Jan Tana (with all them ugly muscles - LOL), I said she should flex
on stage (hell, some of the others do).  She said she's now in fitness, she
doesn't flex.  But when she did her routine, I noticed 1) her strength moves
- one-arm push-ups particularly - were better - deeper, stricter
repetitions, and 2) she DID flex her right bicep at the end.  Sure, that
didn't help her, I just wanted to see her flex - dog that I am. :-)

In 11th was Jill Holland, in 10th was Chatra Burford, in 9th was, to me, an
unrecognizable Leigh Ross (didn't she used to do bodybuilding?  she did), in
8th was Heather Millard, in 7th was Beth Horn, in 6th was Dena "Lieutenant"
Weiner (she incorporates her name into her routine's music - smart move, to
me, to remember her name).

In the top 5, the perennial 5th placer Linda McLaughlin definitely raised
the muscle quotient seen in the Fitness Contest a notch.  Showing a
spectacularly muscular fitness body, complete with abs that would be the
envy of almost anyone (except Adelina Friedmansky and Cynthia Bridges) and
calves that WERE the envy of those two, she, also, in my opinion, like
Lindsay Mulinazzi, should go into (or back into) bodybuilding.  I conserved
my vocal chords this time but felt the judge's vision was being clouded by
that smog Los Angeles is famous for...

In 4th place was Kim Hartt, in 3rd was Monica Burdick, in 2nd was Amanda
Doerrer (any of these better than Ms. McLaughlin?  Not on your life!), but
amongst the group, the winner, a kind of unusual-looking blonde (who I'd
actually heard of), Charlene Rink, I was reasonably happy with.  She had an
entertaining and energetic routine.

Overall:

Okay, in the one-piece swimsuits (i.e. the ones that cover the abs - boo!),
out came Adelina "Abs" Friedmansky from the short, Jennifer Hendershott from
the medium, and Charlene Rink from the heavyweights, er tall. :-)  Then the
judges called for a "posedown".  I'm thinking, well all right now, I get to
see Ms. Hendershott flex tan arms - yes!  Silly me, this was a fitness
competition (I wonder what would've happened if they DID flex for the
audience?).  In speaking with Gene X after the show, he came up with a term
that I found quite amusing and fitting.  He said it shouldn't be called a
posedown, but a stand-around-down!  

Indeed, that's what most did, but interestingly, Ms. Hendershott, arguably
the most muscular there, turned her back to the audience, and while, no
doubt some guys looked below her waistline a bit, I was transfixed on her
spinal erectors, meaty and thick.  She actually, subtly seemed to be flexing
them without really overtantly flexing.  Plus, although she couldn't do a
lat spread (not a real one), she stood wide and her lats were also quite
nice.

Although not viewable in the one-piece, Adelina "Abs" Friedmansky's abs
must've been too tough to beat.  She got the overall, not to my
disappointment.  Not too bad...