2007 NPC Nationals Women's Bodybuilding preview...

Dallas, TX: Here in November sporting events become traditions like the annual 10K Turkey Trot that has been ongoing since the 1960's, the Texas Stampede Rodeo Championships, and of course the annual Thanksgiving Day Dallas Cowboys home game which has been the norm since 1976. Well the NPC Nationals Bodybuilding Championships may not be an annual event since two other prominent American cities host the show on a three year rotating basis but it is the premier bb show amongst the amateurs hoping to win that elusive IFBB Pro card that they have spent hours in the gym training and fine tuning their physiques in order to achieve. Dallas's downtown Fairmont Hotel will be the host to the Women's Championships on Saturday, Nov. 17th. Prejudging starts at 9:00 a.m. and later in the day the Finals will begin at 6:30 p.m.



Brief Historical Recap of Nationals


In 1980, the late Laura Combes beat out a group of five ladies that included future bodybuilding all-stars Carla Dunlap and Kay Baxter for the very first American Championships, the precursor to the present day Nationals. The show would operate under that name for one more year before taking on its present day NPC Nats. title. Dunlap won the event in 1981 and repeated the very next year to become the only woman to win consecutive overall titles at Nats. You can almost say that Nats has gone through three phases. From '82 to 1991 the overall winner came from the heavyweight class almost every year with the exceptions being in 1985 when Renee Casella came out of the middleweight class and in 1989 when Susan Myers took the show as a lightweight. In 1984, Cory Everson became the only woman to win both the Nats showcase and the Ms. Olynpia in the same year a fact that is likely to stand the test of time. The 1985 show produced a MW winner by the name of Mary Ellen Jerumbo who is still presently competing in the Pro ranks. Second phase lasted eight years going from 1992-'99 during this period five MW's (Drorit Kernes '92, Paula Suzuki '95, Gayle Moher '96, Brenda Raganot '98, Vilma Caez '99) and two lightweights (Sue Price '93, Michelle Ralabate '94) won the titles. Nicole Bass was the lone exception as she won out of the HW class in '97. The third phase leads us to the the present day, during the past seven years starting in 2000 with Heather Foster's win the overall has been dominated by the heavies as they lay claim to seven consecutive titles. Arguably the '97 Nats may have been the deepest and one of the best competitions in the shows history. Aside from Bass, along with class winners Sandy Mathews (LW) and Collin Fischer (MW) here is the list of future IFBB Pro's that grazed the stage on that special Autumn day: Pam Kusor, Yaz Boyum, Denise Gerard, Tonie Norman, Brenda Raganot, Annie Rivieccio, Sharon Robelle, Heather Foster and some young lady by the name of Iris Kyle who placed fourth among the big girls. In 2002, Sarah Dunlap became the youngest female bb to win Nats at the age of 22 and just this year made her Ms. Olympia debut. The last time it was held here in the Big D, which was '04, Texas's very own Gina Davis posed her way into the history books.


Last years class winners that graduated to the Pro ranks included the overall winner Lora Ottenad, Debi Laszewski, Lisa Bickels, and Jamie Troxel they were queen bees in a deep field of 76 competitors . Laszewski was the veteran stalwart of the group having first competed on the Nats stage in 1996 and wasted no time in making a mark on the Pro circuit by placing third at the recent Atlantic City Pro show. Ottenad after her win was invited to the '07 Arnold Classic Ms. International where she placed 11th with a crowd pleasing physique and loads of potential to do well as a Pro. Even though neither Bickels or Troxel have made their Pro debuts they share one common bond in that both are US Marines and Jamie is still serving living on a base in Japan.


This is the show that fbbs and fans most anticipate as four Pro cards will be awarded. Could this be the start of a new phase? Will the stacked highly competitive lightheavyweight class become the dominant group and start a string of overall titles? Or will a lightweight emerge and do something that hasn't been done since '94 win the whole shebang? Well folks this is an abbreviated list of competitors I have gathered from various message boards and a very popular social networking site. Career highlights consist of shows the that the fbb's have competed in within the last five years and they are placed in their projected classes.



Lightweights




Barbara Fletcher

Career Highlights- 2003 California Championships - NPC, LightWeight, 4th
Orange County (CA) Classic - NPC, LightWeight, 1st
2005 Nationals - NPC, LightWeight, 6th
Orange County (CA) Classic - NPC, LightWeight, 1st, overall winner
USA Championships - NPC, LightWeight, 1st
2006 Nationals - NPC, LightWeight, 2nd


Cassie Faussett

Career Highlights- 2005 Shreveport Classic - NPC, Novice Overall Winner
2006 Red River Classic - NPC, Middleweight, 1st




Claire Rohrbacker-O'Connell


Career Highlights- 2004 Sacramento Championships - NPC, LightWeight, 1st
2006 California Championships - NPC, LightWeight, 1st, Overall Winner
Contra Costa (CA) Championships - NPC, LightWeight, 1st, Overall Winner
USA Championships - NPC, LightWeight, 1st


Galina Serdtsev

Career Highlights- 2006 Nationals - NPC, LightWeight, 4th
2007 USA Championships - NPC, LightWeight, 1st



Kirsten Haratyk

Career Highlights- 2005 Junior Nationals - NPC, LightWeight, 4th
2006 Junior Nationals - NPC, LightWeight, 1st


Patricia Houston

Career Highlights- 2005 Texas State Championships - NPC, Figure A, 8th
2007 Europa Super Show - NPC, LightWeight, 1st, Overall Winner


Suzanne Germano

Career Highlights-2003 San Diego Championships - NPC, LightWeight, 6th
2004 Border States Classic - NPC, Figure Masters Short, 6th
Tournament of Champions - NPC, Figure Short, 4th
2006 San Diego Championships - NPC, Figure Masters Short, 1st
2007 Junior Nationals - NPC, LightWeight, 2nd


Tammy Patnode


Career Highlights- 2006 Ironman (NY) - NPC, LightWeight, 1st, Overall Winner
Junior Nationals - NPC, LightWeight, 3rd
2007 Junior USA - NPC, LightWeight, 1st, Ove


Middleweights


Cheri Owen

Career Highlights- 2004 Los Angeles Championships - NPC, MiddleWeight, 2nd
2005 North American Championships - IFBB, Light-HeavyWeight, 9th
2006 Junior USA - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 4th
New England Championships - NPC, MiddleWeight, 2nd


Ellen Woodley

Career Highlights- 2003 Junior USA - NPC, LightWeight, 2nd
2005 Nationals - NPC, MiddleWeight, 2nd
North American Championships - IFBB, MiddleWeight, 1st
2006 North American Championships - IFBB, MiddleWeight, 4th
USA Championships - NPC, MiddleWeight, 4th
2007 All South Championships - NPC, LightWeight, 1st


Pam Shealy

Career Highlights- 2003 Junior USA - NPC, MiddleWeight, 3rd
South Carolina State - NPC, MiddleWeight, 1st, Overall Winner
2004 USA Championships - NPC, LightWeight, 2nd
2005 Masters Nationals - NPC, LightWeight, 1st
USA Championships - NPC, LightWeight, 2nd
2006 Nationals - NPC, LightWeight, 7th
2007 North American Championships - IFBB, MiddleWeight, 3rd


Tina Chandler

Career Highlights-2005 USA Championships - NPC, MiddleWeight, 2nd
2006 Nationals - NPC, MiddleWeight, 5th
USA Championships - NPC, MiddleWeight, 1st


Light-Heavyweights



Amy Neal

Career Highlights-2003 Eastern Seaboard - NPC, HeavyWeight, 1st, Overall Winner
USA Championships - NPC, MiddleWeight, 10th
2004 USA Championships - NPC, MiddleWeight, 5th
2005 USA Championships - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 11th
2006 Nationals - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 5th


Britt Miller

Career Highlights- 2003 North Carolina State - NPC, LightWeight, 3rd
2004 Junior Nationals - NPC, MiddleWeight, 2nd
North Carolina State - NPC, LightWeight, 1st, Overall Winner
2005 Collegiate Nationals - NPC, Physique, 1st
USA Championships - NPC, MiddleWeight, 1st
2006 Nationals - NPC, MiddleWeight, 3rd


Cheryl Faust

Career Highlights-2005 John Sherman Classic- NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 1st
2007 Junior USA - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 4th


Elena Seiple

Career Highlights-2003 USA Championships - NPC, MiddleWeight, 3rd
2004 Nationals - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 2nd
2005 Nationals - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 3rd
USA Championships - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 2nd
2006 Eastern USA Championships - NPC, MiddleWeight, 1st, Overall Winner
Nationals - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 2nd


Kate Cooper

Career Highlights- 2004 Contra Costa (CA) Championships - NPC, MiddleWeight, 4th
Excalibur - Los Angeles - NPC, MiddleWeight, 1st
2005 Excalibur - Los Angeles - NPC, MiddleWeight, 3rd
Los Angeles Championships - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 1st
Nationals - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 8th
2006 Nationals - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 12th
2007 Masters Nationals - NPC, HeavyWeight, 8th


Kristy Hawkins

Career Highlights-2003 Junior Nationals - NPC, MiddleWeight, 4th
2004 Junior Nationals - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 5th
North American Championships - IFBB, Light-HeavyWeight, 4th
2005 Nationals - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 4th
2006 Nationals - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 3rd


Lucy Wilson

Career Highlights-2006 Mid-Florida Classic - NPC, Heavyweight, 1st, overall winner
Southeastern USA - NPC, Heavyweight, 1st, overall winner
Hurricane Bay - NPC, Heavyweight, 1st, overall winner



Heavyweights


Beverly DiRenzo

Career Highlights- 2003 Nationals - NPC, MiddleWeight, 4th
2005 Nationals - NPC, HeavyWeight, 6th
Southern States - NPC, HeavyWeight, 1st
USA Championships - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 9th
2006 Nationals - NPC, HeavyWeight, 2nd
North American Championships - IFBB, HeavyWeight, 4th
USA Championships - NPC, HeavyWeight, 5th
2007 North American Championships - IFBB, HeavyWeight, 2nd
USA Championships - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 4th


Gayle Frankie

Career Highlights-2004 Nationals - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 14th
2005 Coastal USA Championships - NPC, Physique, 1st
Nationals - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 5th
2006 Nationals - NPC, HeavyWeight, 4th


Jennifer Gutierrez

Career Highlights- 2004 USA Championships - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 5th
2006 Nationals - NPC, HeavyWeight, 6th
USA Championships - NPC, HeavyWeight, 9th
2007 Border States Classic - NPC, HeavyWeight, 1st, Overall Winner


Julia Stamper

Career Highlights-2006 Junior Nationals - NPC, HeavyWeight, 6th
2007 USA Championships - NPC, HeavyWeight, 3rd


Julie Peavey

Career Highlights- 2006 Nationals - NPC, HeavyWeight, 11th
2007 Excalibur (SC) - NPC, HeavyWeight, 1st, Overall Winner
North American Championships - IFBB, HeavyWeight, 8th



Kris Murrell

Career Highlights-2005 Junior Nationals - NPC, HeavyWeight, 5th
2006 Junior Nationals - NPC, HeavyWeight, 1st
Nationals - NPC, HeavyWeight, 7th



Michelle Neil

Career Highlights-2005 Junior Nationals - NPC, Light-HeavyWeight, 4th
2006 North American Championships - IFBB, HeavyWeight, 3rd
USA Championships - NPC, HeavyWeight, 2nd
2007 Masters Nationals - NPC, HeavyWeight, 1st
USA Championships - NPC, HeavyWeight, 1st


Sheilahe Brown

Career Highlights- 2003 Nationals - NPC, HeavyWeight, 8th
2005 Nationals - NPC, HeavyWeight, 4th
North American Championships - IFBB, HeavyWeight, 4th 2006 Nationals - NPC, HeavyWeight, Did not place


Shelly Fields

Career Highlights-2003 California Championships - NPC, HeavyWeight, 3rd
Contra Costa (CA) Championships - NPC, HeavyWeight, 1st 2004 USA Championships - NPC, HeavyWeight, 14th
2005 San Francisco Championships - NPC, Figure D, 1st
2006 Masters Nationals - NPC, Figure D, 4th

photo credits: Mike Eckstut, HDPhysiques, Gene X Hwang, George Legros, J. C. Lopez, Tom Nine, Dan Ray, Andy Vogel

Q&A with Zoa Linsey...

Who would have thought a musically inclined individual who grew up mastering the likes of the violin and even making money tutoring students on how to play the violin while making her own way through college would turn out to be more....Valentina Chipega than Lorenza Ponce. For those that are not familiar with famous professional female violinist Ponce has toured with and played along side the likes of Bon Jovi, The Dixie Chicks, and Sheryl Crow among others. Zoa Linsey on the other hand may very well be lining up beside the likes of fellow Canadians Helen Bouchard and Nicole Ball one day on the professional bodybuilding stage. Linsey is currently contracted Personal Trainer & Lifestyle coach with the US Army at Camp Zama, Japan. She is also preparing for the 2008 Canadian Nationals.


The Questions...

1. What is your lively hood outside of bodybuilding?

ZL- I am a personal lifestyle consultant and trainer…I work with mostly women; assessing their current lifestyle and making changes to their nutrition and activity level to help them feel stronger, more energetic and increase their quality of life. I live in Japan on an American military base, so I work at a military fitness facility and I am contracted by them. My primary in-person clients are wives of military, military themselves and civilians employed by the Department of Defense to work overseas to assist the military. I also do seminars and group sessions for soldier groups and civilians. I also provide on-line training for other clients who live outside of Japan! I am actually a Canadian citizen, but met and married my hubby Joseph who is an Amercian citizen, and is the Fitness Trainer for the Army in Japan. The nice thing about this is that we get to work together in the same facility!

2. What is a characteristic you admire most in a person?

ZL- I have a great deal of respect for people who pursue continuous improvement their life and aren’t afraid of changing their attitudes to make themselves stronger. I admire people who are humble and encouraging to others, no matter what their accomplishments, who believe in integrity and pursue a level of personal greatness in their life – relationships, personal growth and fitness. I’ve learned in my life that it’s alright to make mistakes, its just as important to assess what you’ve learned and try to make a better decision next time. I also like to be around people who have positive energy and see life as an opportunity.


3. What is the most important attribute a bb'er needs to have?

ZL- As a bodybuilder, I feel the greatest lesson we learn through the sport is PATIENCE. ☺ Patience with the process and with our changes, as well as personal discipline and dedication—CONSISTENCY over time. Nothing great is accomplished without effort or sacrifice but it is important to enjoy the process, the end result is not guaranteed but it’s essential to enjoy life – after all we only get one chance!



4. If you could change one thing about bb what would it be?

ZL- To be honest, and it may not be a popular answer, but I wish that the sport was not as ‘sexualized’. I feel this demeans the accomplishments of the athletes and puts women back decades in our struggle to be respected and admired in a positive manner. In no way do I wish to target anyone’s personal choices, that isn’t my intent at all, but more say that in an ideal world, in the sport and on-stage, women would be respected and admired for their athletic prowess, instead of their ability to be sexy. It would be beneficial to women if these two could be kept separate (if possible). Also, it would be GREAT if the judges from the CBFF, the IFBB and the NPC would get together and come up with a consistent method of judging so the female bodybuilders would feel more confident regarding what they need to do to be successful in the sport across the board, at each level.


5. Who is a historical person in the past that you would liked to have met?

ZL- I would like to meet Kim Chizevsky and have a huge, long heart-to-heart discussion with her regarding the changes she saw in bodybuilding over her career, what she thinks about all the changes, as well as how she trained, what she went through to look so PHENOMENAL! She is about my height and weight so she is someone I can relate to and would love to meet!

In conclusion, please check out Zoa's own place on the Net at http://www.zoalinsey.com/

Chit-chatting with the athletes...

Justine Dohring

Dohring, who lives in Delaware, won the 2006 NPC DE State Championship and placed third in her light-heavyweight class at the '07 Junior Nationals. Please check out a new women's bodybuilding forum at http://www.femininebodybuilding.com/ Justine's husband Dan is the mastermind behind this upstart website.

Ruthie Lucchesi

Lucchesi lives in Pasadena, MD, where she is a personal trainer and nutrition consultant. She is a 4-time Bally's Regional Trainer of the Year award recipient.

Stacey Keller

Keller hails from Philadelphia, PA, has previous overall wins (bodybuilding) in both the NPC East Coast and Gold's (NJ) Classics. She will be making her national level debut in 2008.

1. What is your lively hood outside of bodybuilding?

Dohring- personal trainer & limo driver

Lucchesi- Bodybuilding is my life but on occasion I do like to travel to the Islands and enjoy the sun and beaches.

Keller- I work at a gym. I'm a P/T there but it's more of a tennis club so the number of P/T clients you get are far and few but I also do paperwork and handle Memberships/Cancellations and renewals, etc for them, however I am blessed to have a wonderful boyfriend who financially aids me in my support or I would not be able to compete as I do.

2. What is a characteristic you admire most in a person?

Dohring- positiveness

Lucchesi- Honesty

Keller- Honesty and Morals. I mean I need someone to be honest I would rather someone tell me the truth and it hurt then to not know or be mislead. As for Morals I believe in being true to myself and not just following the pack. IF something goes against what I believe in I won't do it if I don't believe in it.

3. What is the most important attribute a successful bb'er needs to have?

Dohring- discipline

Lucchesi- Self Respect and confidence.

Keller- personally feel the most important attribute a bb'er needs to have would be determination. I say determination because since we compete in a subjective sport, sometimes politics play a big part of deciding a winner on stage and with that in mind, you have to be able to keep that in your head and yet still be determined despite all the obstacles and continue on towards your goal or you won't last.

4. If you could change one thing about bb what would it be?

Dohring- fbb respected equal to men's

Lucchesi- it would be all the drug abuse- the unhealthy side.

Keller- the amount of Pro Cards that are awarded at BB shows. It is not fair that Figure gets awarded a Pro card for each class but Female BB only get awarded one unless its Nationals.

5. Name a historical person in the past that you would liked to have met?

Dohring- no response

Locchesi- Marilyn Monroe

Keller- George Washington Carter for inventing peanut butter. I would give him a big kiss for that one : ) (the blog author says if he was a girl i would too..ha!)