1999 NPC USA (Bodybuilding-Heavyweight and Overall) By -jabber There were 21 women who entered the Heavyweight division (as opposed to 6 in the Lightweights and 9 in the Middleweights). This to me means a) these women are drinking milk :-) and b) obviously muscle weighs a lot, so since these women are wearing more muscle than women had a scant 5 or more years ago, they gonna be heavier. I definitely think we should go to an additional category. Although maybe the additional category should politically be called the Light-Heavyweight (as there once used to be one), I don't think the lower limit should be lowered. Effectively it would make a Super-Heavyweight female division (as politically incorrect as that may sound) for folks like Th-resa Bostick, Heather Foster, and Trisha Beauperthuy, to name a few, to fight it out (yeah, yeah, Th-resa won't be fighting it out anymore - but I get ahead of myself :-) ). Plus we'd have great Light-Heavyweights like Denise Hoshor and Trish Swander in this new class. Heavyweight Women: We had 6 women "tie" for last, or 16th place: Carol Pulley, Becca Swanson, Pamela Porter, Sheilahe Brown (the 2nd most well-known of these last placers) from Dallas (actually I'd never seen her in contest shape in person - she was nicely massive and defined - don't let the last place lead you to believe she wasn't good - just a bunch were better), Trish Swander (the most well-known of the last placers) from the Valley, Harlingen, TX, and Kassie Hornbuckle. Trish, my did she look little, what happened? I'd seen her in the off-season at a couple other shows (since we both live in Texas, albeit opposite ends) and she was looking big. She did a couple things wrong (which her husband told me about at a subsequent show), but she, IMO, could've won the non-existent round consisting of facial beauty - a very attractive young lady. Kassie Hornbuckle, was the 6'1" winner of the Jan Tana Amateur competition, so her height makes it impossible for her to blend in unnoticed in this group. In 15th was Risby Tyra, who a friend of mine SWEARS is really Tyra Risby (I'm just reading the name from the official scoresheet here). :-) Pretty funny if it is. She was a very attractive, thick, young muscular black woman, who we had occasion to observe further at lunch. Oh, she also had purple hair (guess those muscles don't gain enough attention - ha!). In 14th was Trisha Beauperthuy, a tall blonde with thick, muscular abs. In 13th was Kelly Wall. In 12th was, believe it or not, IMO, one of the favored women at this show, Gisele Sass. Basically a Sandra Bullock look-a-like with TONS of muscle, although one of the most attractive there, for some reason her symmetry looked all screwy compared to the others (remember, this was a tough class). Perhaps next time, for example, her thigh sweep was sadly lacking compared to her robust thick upper body. In 11th was Diane Solomon (never heard of her :-) ), in 10th was the popular Jasmin Johnson. I'd never seen her before in contest shape. She was actually quite impressive with great abs she liked to show a lot during her posing. In 9th was Kelly Felske (looking great), and in 8th, was someone I'm quite high on, Sherry Smith. From Oklahoma, she recently won the Jr. Nationals. Very unassuming and un-flamboyant (but attractive just the same), this blonde just wows them with incredibly good symmetry and legs that take a back seat to no competitor. In 7th was Jane Trcka, in 6th was Fatima Johnson, formerly a middleweight. She has an incredibly PHAT midsection (that's a good thing :-) ). Sneaking into the top 5 was 5th place finisher Carmen Brady. Talk about paying your dues, is she not the longest competing FBB at this show? And she possibly was the most ripped (certainly the most ripped we've ever seen her). Incredible conditioning, a textbook should point to her as an example. In 4th was Carla Haug, who I wasn't previously familiar with. Strange. This blonde, however, grew on me, as arguably she had the best abs of the show. You know, plates visible 100% of the time, just when she breathes - her abs were better relaxed than most competitors flexed. Now comes the smog that seemed to settle in front of the judges so they could not properly see the stage. In 3rd was my choice for 2nd, Heather Foster, perhaps one of the thickest females you will ever see in contest shape. As always, she had an entertaining and flamboyant routine. Funny how this really thick muscular woman always shows she has a funky side and can be very creative. Even more at this show than others (and unfortunately this may have hurt her), other than when she's posing, she has this harsh expression like "I'm going to kill you" or the slightly less violent "I despise you/I hate your guts". Really, I'm sure she's nice when you're talking to her, but the "aura" that harshness gives off does not bode well for her. Then when her free-posing starts, she looks warm and sparkles. In 2nd was the first time I audibly booed. But it was more like a sigh in resignation. I'd heard that Denise Hoshor (arguably one of the sexiest fbb's on the planet) was now a Heavyweight. But sexiness does not a heavyweight make. By a long shot, IMO, she was not a front-runner in this show, nor my favorite. After the prejudging, I changed my mind completely. I thought she was fabulous. Great symmetry, nicely heavily-muscled, very cute, a PERFECT ambassador for this sport, but more importantly, she was just a darn great fbb. And many folks don't seem to realize this until I point out this: check out her forearms, perhaps the best in the sport. Ah, I felt her symmetry walked all over the 1st place winner, Th-resa Bostick. If Th-resa was harder (the warcry I heard as to why she won), how come Ms. Hoshor's abs looked better? Arrgh, I like Th-resa and her back really looked great, and she had a new and totally different and flattering hairstyle (uh, that should have nothing to do with it), but. Great size, but I felt others' lines were cleaner (most notably Ms. Hoshor's). Hey, she's been around and put in her dues, but... Interestingly on the scorecard (and in the audience it seemed, except for a buddy of mine, a Ms. Bostick fanatic :-) ) 2 judges scored the top 3 exactly like I would've (Hoshor, Foster, Bostick), with the other 9 putting Th-resa first. Overall: Well, since we had a screwy field here, the "right" Lightweight, Tonia Villalobos (but weak in the details), the "wrong" Middleweight, the great Dawn Riehl (since the real winner, Mah-Ann Mendoza didn't show up), and arguably the "wrong" Heavyweight, Th-resa Bostick, ah among this group, Ms. Bostick should've won, and did. But Ms. Riehl still had better biceps, and Ms. Villalobos better symmetry. This would've been much more interesting if Mah-Ann Mendoza showed up and Denise Hoshor got the nod... Great show, nonetheless, Th-resa's definitely big enough for the pro ranks. Until next show, I remain, -jabber