For every competitor who aspires to reach the national amateur level and beyond, a major regional contest can pave the way for many women who, as they progress, will become the stars of the future. Among the numerous regional competitions a few stand out as premier annual events that have a level of prestige that produce overall champions who show a predictable level of future success.
In the Pacific Northwest, the annual NPC Emerald Cup has been a hugely popular contest that had its beginnings in Everett, Washington, under the dedicated promotion of Brad and Elaine Craig.
With the inaugural Emerald Cup staged at the Everett Civic Auditorium on March 19, 1983, the contest quickly became known as an extremely well-run show that female competitors would find particularly appealing due to Elaine Craig's previous experience as a bodybuilding competitor and the special attention the Craig's gave to the women's side of the sport.
With a field that included 13 lightweights, 12 middleweights and seven in the Over-35 division, a nationwide judging panel headed by AFWB President and IFBB pro judge Doris Barrilleaux along with IFBB Pros Georgia Fudge and Mary Roberts, and promoter Dick Roberts, among others, gave the event immediate credibility. The judges also gave the contestants a sense of security that there would be a level of care and consistency in the final decisions.
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| Dianna Mull, 1st Emerald Cup Champ |
Winning the first Emerald Cup overall title with just two classes being contested was Washington's Dianna Mull. A lightweight who showed impressive muscular development in her physique, Mull earned her overall decision by out-flexing Montana's impressive Peggy Bertelsen - the middleweight winner. Washington's Kelly Nelson, who would continue to compete well into her 70's, won the Over-35 class. Sisters Gwynne and Carol Gambit chased Mull and Bertelsen to their class titles as Gwynne finished second to Mull in the lightweight class, and Carol earned the runner-up spot to Bertelsen.
In much the same way Dianna Mull was a unanimous winner in the competition, the Emerald Cup itself was also a unanimous winner in the eyes of the fans as well as the competitors. It was destined to grow to enormous proportions as the years passed.
With the word spreading like wildfire on a national scope as to the quality of the contest, the Craig's also added what would become a benchmark in their effort to maintain a high standard event - great guest posers. With the 1984 contest held once again in Everett, Lee Haney and Carla Dunlap were featured performers with Doris Barrilleaux returning as the head judge. The response was dramatic.
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| Dianna Mull |
The size of the women's field doubled with 10 lightweights, 15 middleweights and the addition of a heavyweight class that drew an additional 26 contestants. Gwynne Gambit, who had finished second to Diana Mull a year earlier, polished off not only the lightweight field with a lean, muscular physique, but also added the overall crown. The Emerald Cup was on a roll and the building of a tradition that would soon draw competitors from across the country was well underway.
In 1985, the newly-crowned Ms. Olympia Cory Everson and Russ Testo were the welcomed guest posers entertaining the fans.
Oregon's Catherine Nguyen - a sixth-placed middleweight at this event in 1983 and eighth in 1984 - returned as a buffed and shiny 137-pound heavyweight to win the overall title. Chasing Nguyen to her overall crown was lightweight dynamo Satina Watson. A huge crowd favorite at 4-8, 90 ½ pounds, Watson's lightweight Emerald Cup win was the beginning of a solid competitive year where she placed sixth at the NPC Nationals, and followed up by being selected to compete at the IFB
B World Junior Championships in Australia, where she won the gold medal for the United States.
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| Marissa Brown |
The 1986 E-Cup continued to grow as Alabama's Alicia Lippman captured the middleweight and overall titles. The legendary Bill Pearl served as a judge, and Diana Dennis and Joe Dawson guest posed, w
hile Russ Testo returned for an encore performance. In jus
t four years the E-Cup had
become so popular the 1,561 seat Civic Auditorium had sold out over a month prior to the event.
In its fifth year, the 1987 E-Cup saw female contestants come from six states including Alaska as Oregon's Marissa Brown over-powered a very strong field of competitors. A child-wonder at just 20 years of age, Brown was 5-6, 160 pounds and possessed an impressive level of muscle volume. Her heavyweight win was una
nimous, and her victory was significant considering the presence of Lisa Lorio who was already a top national-level middleweight and had won the ‘86 NPC Louisiana and ‘85 NPC Southern America titles before
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| Lisa Lorio |
traveling to Washington. The middleweight field was so competitive Lorio was pushed to the runner-up spot by Judy Weston - a Redmond, Washington local who was highly defined and very muscular. After winning the middleweight class at the 1988 NPC Nationals, Lorio would move up to the pro ranks and compete in three Ms. Olympia contests before finishing her competitive career. The E-Cup continued to grow and was sold out over six weeks prior to the show and had outgrown the Civic Auditorium.
Rich Gaspari and Jackie Paisley highlighted the 1988 E-Cup as featured guest posers with Jamie Langdon traveling from Arizona to claim the middleweight and overall titles in another very competitive field. Langdon's quality was notable as she earned her overall win in the posedown by out-pointing heavyweight winner Mishay Santos. Staged at the 5th Avenue Theatre, the city of Seattle became the venue of the E-Cup for the first time.
Over the next two years, a pair of Oregon competitors really helped put the Emerald Cup on the proverbial
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| Nikki Fuller |
map. In 1989 a field of 32 bodybuilders led by a stunningly well-balanced and genetically gifted heavyweight named Nicole Garner (who would become better known as Nikki Fuller) made this event memorable. Chasing Garner to her heavyweight title was fellow Oregonian Shelley Beattie. A year later Beattie would return to the E-Cup to dominate the competition and establish herself as a solid national-level competitor, just as Fuller had done. This dynamic duo of Fuller and Beattie was only just getting started with their convincing E-Cup victories. In 1990 Fuller won the heavyweight and overall titles at the NPC Nationals, while Beattie claimed a national-level event of her own winning the overall 1990 NPC USA crown. Fuller also added a bronze medal effort at the 1990 IFBB World Amateur Championships as a heavyweight.
Both Fuller and Beattie enjoyed good success at the pro
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| Shelley Beattie |
level as Fuller won the 1992 Jan Tana Classic, and competed in three Ms. Internationals and two Ms. Olympia contests before leaving the competition stage. Beattie also did well competing in three Ms. Internationals and three Ms. Olympias placing as high as third at the 1991 Ms. I, and third at the '92 Ms. O.
Guest posers at the 1990 E-Cup included IFBB pros Diana Dennis, and Lisa Lorio, along with USA champion J.J.Marsh.
In 1991 the overall title went to Seattle hometowner Paula Houston in a field of 26 contestants with 1990 IFBB North American champion Jim Quinn doing the guest posing honors. With the E-Cup out-growing the Fifth Avenue Theatre, it established a new home in the historic Paramount Theatre in downtown Seattle. As expected, the 3,000 seat theatre sold out.
The 1992 E-Cup featured another 20-year-old phenom - Twanda Smith. From the Seattle suburb of Burien, Smith created a considerable stir as fans and competitors alike marveled at her remarkable leg development. Even male contestants complimented Smith on the startling quad and calf muscle separation and definition. That said, her overall win was not unanimous among the judges as Smith battled to out-flex heavyweight runner-up Jodi Turner - a 5-9, 160-pound Montana state champion who displayed a well-balanced and highly aesthetic physique. The two outstanding competitors brought a considerable
dilemma for the judging panel as both women were very good, but in notably different structural and muscular ways. And speaking of vastly different physiques, guest posers Sharon
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| Lilli Ewing |
Bruneau and Dorian Yates gave the E-Cup crowd an entertaining display of impressively developed physiques from both the male and fem
ale perspective.
Guest posers brought the house down again in 1993 when the colorful Brit Paula Bircumshaw and Canadian Paul Dillett packed about as much muscle as possible into a guest posing duo. Needless to say, the two were extremely popular with the E-Cup crowd.
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| Jacque Till |
Winning the middleweight overall women's titles was Danielle Giger - yet another 20-year-old - this time from Corvallis, Oregon. Heavyweight winner Lilli Ewing is still actively competing today and moved on to compete at the national level (she finished ninth in the LtHW class at the 2008 NPC Nationals) and will compete at the 2010 NPC Nationals in Atlanta.
Again in 1994 the invited guest posers were a huge draw and the capacity audience watched as Denise Rutkowski and Chris Cormier dazzled everyone with their levels of conditioning. Oregon's Jacque Till was a unanimous heavyweight and overall winner, while an aspiring lightweight competitor named Mah-Ann
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| Mah-Ann Mendoza |
Mendoza was making her push for future stardom. She would finish third here, but better placings were right around the corner for this Oregon native. With the E-Cup continuing to sell out every year, the event would move into the new Meydenbauer Convention Center in Bellevue the following year. The spacious center provided much more room for fans and exhibitors.
In 1995 the Craigs outdid themselves not only with fine guest posers that included Porter Cottrell, Kevin Levrone and Debbie Muggli, but they assembled a blockbuster ‘Legends Seminar' that brought Bill Pearl, Dave Draper, Larry Scott, Chris Dickerson and Don Ross together for a memorable discussion about every subject related to bodybuilding.
Mah-Ann Mendoza gained a few pounds of muscle and moved up to the middleweight class from her '94 E-Cup lightweight showing and not only won that division, but captured the overall title as well. Mendoza would later become the Emerald Cup's most active and successful IFBB pro bodybuilder after winning the middleweight and overall NPC USA title in 2001. To date, Mendoza has competed in 18 pro events including five Ms. Internationals and four Ms. Olympias. She also won the lightweight class at the 2004 Southwest USA Pro Cup, and was the overall winner at the Europa Super Show in 2007.
Moving to a two-day event with the inclusion of a fitness division for the first time, gymnastics instructor and
Washington local Dale Tomita put on a dazzling display of fitness ability together with a strong level of physical excellence that put the exclamation point on her victory in the first Emerald Cup Fitness Championships. Tomita would later place in the top five of three Ms. Olympia Fitness events (1995, '96, and '97), while winning the 1997 Czech Pro Fitness Championships. She also placed fourth at the 1997 Ms. International Fitness.
Montana's Sherry Morin took the middleweight and overall
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| Sherry Morin |
E-Cup titles in 1996, but she was hard-pressed to maintain a level attention with the blockbuster group of guest posers that made an appearance at this event. With Ronnie Coleman heading the list, Nasser El Sombatty, Ericca Kern, Carol Semple, and Dale Tomita making an encore performance from her fitness victory a year earlier, Sherry Morin may still have had the best abs on stage that weekend. Pressing Morin for the overall title was heavyweight Lora Ottenad who would become an NPC USA heavyweight winner in 2000. Dubbed by Lonnie Teper as the ‘Washington Monument', Ottenad won the overall NPC Nationals in 2006 before entering the 2007 Ms. International and Atlantic City Pro contests at the pro level.
Washington middleweight Suzie Mack claimed the overall E-Cup title in 1997, as guest posers Ian Harrison, Natalia Murnikoviene, Debbie Kruck, and Rx Muscle honcho Dave Palumbo gave the capacity crowd an eyeful of memorable stage performances.
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| Shelly Paolinetti |
Middleweight Shelly Paolinetti became the first overall winner of the E-Cup from California and was the sixth overall champion from other than the state of Washington for this 1998 edition of the Emerald Cup. With sleek muscular bodylines and a very engaging stage presence, Paolinetti was a unanimous choice of the judges in her class as well as in the tallies for the posedown. Guest posers at the 1998 event included Ms. Olympia Kim Chizevsky and Aaron Baker.
With the 1999 E-Cup ending the decade of the 90's, it went out with a flurry as Bellevue, Washington heavyweight Anna Onesti won the heavyweight and overall titles in a big way
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| Anna Onesti |
- the biggest, in fact. At 5-11 ½, 191 pounds, Onesti became the biggest winner (and the biggest to date) to win the Emerald Cup overall title. Twanda Smith, the 1992 E-Cup winner, returned to this event and finished second in the heavyweight class to Onesti.
Guest posers for this millennium ending event were Flex Wheeler, Milos Sarcev, and 1999 Ms. Olympia fitness champion Mary Yockey. Twenty-one bodybuilders and 18 fitness contestants entered this '99 event. The fitness field was particularly good with Nicole Rollolazo and Brenda Kelly taking the top two spots in the short class, while Christina Homan and Cathryn Crane finished 1-2 in the tall class.
Kicking off a new decade saw the emergence of a future star from Oregon named Sheila Bleck. As the heavyweight and overall E-Cup winner in
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| Sheila Bleck |
2000, Bleck made a permanent impression on those who witnessed her posing expertise. It was clear she carried a strong passion for bodybuilding and displaying her physique in the most visually impacting of ways. Bleck was in a constant state of improvement through the years leading up to her eventual overall victory at the 2008 NPC National Championships. Adept at always creating mesmerizing posing performances, Bleck made her first appearance at the 2010 Ms. Olympia a memorable one when she placed fourth in her debut. Prior to the Ms. O, Bleck made her first entrance at the pro level in the 2010 New York Pro Championships where she placed second.
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| Sandy Grant |
On tap for guest posers, Ronnie Coleman, Lee Priest, Vince Taylor, Susie Curry and Mandy Blank all helped to fill the bill in producing another sellout crowd.
The 2001 Emerald Cup saw the introduction of the Figure division for the first time with hometown favorite Sandy Grant winning the inaugural event. Little did Grant know at the time that she would lead a group of six straight Emerald Cup Figure winners to the pro ranks that included Canadian Elaine Goodlad (2002), Misty Yi (2003), Chastity Slone (2004), Sweden's Anna Larsson (2005), and Sonia Adcock (Gonzales) in 2006. Of this group, Gonzales most recently won the first-ever Ms. Olympia Bikini division title.
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| Elaine Goodlad | Misty Yi | Anna Larsson |
Winning the overall E-Cup bodybuilding crown was Washington's Gerri Deach in a field of 25 contestants.
Ronnie Coleman made another appearance as a guest poser and was joined by Melvin Anthony, John Pierre Fux, and 2000 Ms. Olympia heavyweight winner Valentina Chepiga.
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| Lori Sorge |
The Emerald Cup celebrated its 20th anniversary with the coming of the 2002 event, and one of the most diverse groups of guest posers imaginable helped make the weekend a raging success as another sellout crowd jammed the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. Lead by Dexter Jackson the guest posers included King Kamali, Quincy Taylor, Garrett Downing, Russ Testo, and Gayle Moher.
Washington's Lori Sorge made a fitting overall winner for the Emerald Cup's 20th year considering she was making a comeback at this event for the first time in 12 years. Sorge was the runner-up to Shelley Beattie at the 1990 contest and at a statuesque 5-11 and weighing a lean and shapely 150 pounds, Sorge was a striking overall champion.
Thirty women competed in the bodybuilding divisions, while an ever-growing 47 contestants led by Canadian and future pro Elaine Goodlad filled the Figure categories.
Ronnie Coleman enjoyed coming to the Emerald Cup so much he almost became a
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| Kimberly Dolan |
permanent guest posing fixture. Accompanied in 2003 by Jay Cutler and Gunter Schlierkamp, size was the order of the day, and E-Cup
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| Kirsten Haug |
heavyweight and overall winner Kirsten Haug didn't disappoint her hometown crowd.
From Arizona, future pro Kimberly Dolan won the Fitness division, while another future pro - Washington's Misty Yi - won the Figure overall title.
With the newly instituted light-heavyweight class added to the bodybuilding line-up in 2004, Washington's Nicole Berg became the first winner of that category at the
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| Nicole Berg |
Emerald Cup competing at a well-balanced 137 pounds. Berg added the overall title to go with her weight-class victory, and her potential at the national level came with little question, but she didn't exercise that effort until five years later when she returned to the competitive stage to win the light-heavyweight class at the 2009 NPC Nationals qualifying her for IFBB pro status.
As usual the guest posing lineup brought the house down with Jay Cutler, Kevin Levone, Mike Matarazzo, Kelly Ryan, Beth Roberts and Tanji Johnson. In the fitness and figure divisions, two more future pros won their respective divisions as Hawaii's Sabrina Gibson won the fitness category and Ohio's Chastity Slone took Figure honors.
The 2005 Emerald Cup experienced a first time result as Bermuda's Millie Cleveland became the first foreign female bodybuilder to win the overall title at the E-Cup. In total, the contest was bulging at the seams as 25 bodybuilders, 115 figure contestants and 16 fitness contestants competed for their respective overall titles. Another pair of future pros took top honors as Tami
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| Millie Cleveland |
Ough won the fitness overall and Sweden's Anna Larsson quarter-turned her way to the Figure title.
The Emerald Cup also hosted an IFBB Pro Fitness Championship for the first time with Tanji Johnson topping runner-up Julie Childs and third-placer Tracey Greenwood. The trio of guest posers included Ronnie Coleman (is this sounding like a broken record?), Mark Dugdale and IFBB ‘Rookie of the Year' Kris Dim.
As usual the Emerald Cup was loaded with high quality competitors and overall bodybuilding winner
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| Candy Canary |
Candy Canary helped maintain the status of this longstanding event. As the 2006 overall winner, Canary traveled from Oklahoma to compete, making her the 14th non-Washington resident to win the overall E-Cup bodybuilding crown at the time. In fact, Washington competitors were blanked out at this event completely with Alaska's Karen Patten winning the overall fitness division, and Californian Sonia
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| Sonia Gonzalez |
Adcock dazzling everyone as she dominated the Figure category to win the overall title. Adcock, who now competes under her maiden name of Gonzales, soon turned pro and has competed in three Ms. Olympias as a figure competitor placing as high as third in 2007. Most recently, she made the switch to the new Bikini division and became the first-ever winner of the Ms. Olympia Bikini contest in 2010.
And yes, Ronnie Coleman guest posed once again along with Jay Cutler, Gunter Schlierkamp and Troy Alves.
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| Cindy Johnson |
The 2007 Emerald Cup marked the 25th anniversary of this event and with it came a California sweep of the bodybuilding weight classes as Kelly Dobbins took the lightweight class, Malibu's Becky West (by way of Bend, Oregon) won the heavyweight division, and Cindy Johnson completed the sweep with a middleweight and overall victory. In celebrating the E-Cup birthday, the women's side of the contest welcomed 142 entries from 17 states and three foreign countries. The overall E-Cup Fitness winner was Washington's Michelle Mayberry, and Californian Erin Heath was a strong choice as the overall Figure champion.
In keeping with the E-Cup anniversary, the Craigs assembled Tanji Johnson, Nicole Rollolazo, Toney Freeman, Phil Heath, Russ Testo and a remarkable young contortionist named Lilia Stepanova who, more recently, made an appearance on ‘America's Got Talent'. As a side note, all three first time winners were on hand for the anniversary event - Dianna Mull (1983 bodybuilding, Dale Tomita 1995 Fitness, and Sandy Grant 2001 Figure).
Prior to the 2008 Emerald Cup, no female competitor had won the overall E-Cup title more than once, but that all changed at this contest as Bermuda's Millie Cleveland returned to Washington to once again claim the Emerald Cup crown. Said Cleveland at the time, "I met so many nice people and had so much fun here, I just wanted to come back and be part of this contest again. I wasn't even thinking about winning the overall, but it was a very nice surprise". Winning the Fitness overall was Montana's Erin Nomura, and Chrissy Burton traveled from New Hampshire to garner the overall Figure title.
Guest posers at this event included a pair of former overall winners in figure and fitness - Sandy Grant and Michelle Mayberry - who have since moved into the pro ranks. In addition, Valentina Chepiga, Melvin Anthony and Dennis Wolf kept the reputation of engaging star performers at the E-Cup alive.
Once again, the Emerald Cup took on a nationwide scope
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| Laurie Smith |
in 2009 as overall winners in bodybuilding, fitness and figure all came from outside the state of Washington.
Oregon's Laurie Smith won the middleweight overall bodybuilding titles in a field of just 12 contestants - the smallest ever at the E-Cup. Alaska's Cinzia Clapp won the overall fitness title in another small field of just seven competitors. Clapp has done well since winning the E-Cup and recently earned pro status when she won her class at the 2010 NPC National Fitness Championships. Meanwhile, Louisiana's Courtney Bynog battled her way through a large field of 72 contestants to win the overall Figure division.
After staging the Emerald Cup at Bellevue's Meydenbauer Center for 15 years, the Craigs moved the event to the Snoqualmie Casino Events Center. With Emerald Cup fans enjoying the contest's new surroundings and atmosphere, it was Washington's Joanna Wilson winning the middleweight and overall titles with 26 bodybuilders competing. Wilson's immediate plans include entering her first NPC Nationals this October in Atlanta.
In the Fitness division, patience and perseverance finally paid off for overall winner Viko Newman who had been a regular entrant in both fitness and figure categories at the E-Cup dating back to 1999. In the Figure
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| Joanna Wilson |
division Colorado's Heather Grace topped a field of 117 contestants.
A new Bikini division was added at the E-Cup for the first time drawing 58 competitors with Sacramento, California's Theresa Byrne taking the inaugural overall crown. Over 4,500 fans attended the two-day event with a total of 345 competitors in the various divisions. The guest posers included IFBB pros Tanji Johnson, Trish Warren, Branch Warren, Dennie James, along with appearances by Mark Dugdale, Phil Heath and Chris Cormier.
The 2011 Emerald Cup will take place once again at the Snoqualmie Casino on April 15th (Fitness and Figure), and 16th (Bodybuilding and Bikini). For more information about this big weekend event go to: www.craigproductions.com .
BODYBUILDING PAST CHAMPS
1983- Dianna Mull, Washington
1984- Gwynne Gambit, Washington
1985- Catherine Nguyen, Oregon
1986- Alicia Lippman, Alabama
1987- Marissa Brown, Oregon
1988- Jamie Langdon, Arizona
1989- Nikki Fuller, Oregon*
1990- Shelley Beattie, Oregon*
1991- Paula Houston, Washington
1992- Twanda Smith, Washington
1993- Danielle Giger, Oregon
1994- Jacque Till, Oregon
1995- Mah-Ann Mendoza, Oregon*
1996- Sherry Morin, Montana
1997- Suzie Mack, Washington
1998- Shelly Paolinetti, California
1999- Anna Onesti, Washington
2000- Sheila Bleck, Oregon*
2001- Gerri Deach, Washington
2002- Lori Sorge, Washington
2003- Kirsten Haug, Washington
2004- Nicole Berg, Washington*
2005- Millie Cleveland, Bermuda
2006- Candy Canary, Oklahoma
2007- Cindy Johnson, California
2008- Millie Cleveland, Bermuda
2009- Laurie Smith, Oregon
2010-Joanna Wilson, Washington
FITNESS PAST CHAMPS
1995- Dale Tomita, Washington*
1996- Marcy Skites, Washington
1997- Jenifer Collins, Washington*
1998- Melanie Webb, Washington*
1999- Nicole Rollolozo, Washington*
2000- Sei Ryan, Washington
2001- Kirsti Zenkner, Washington
2002- Rose Hendricks, Alaska
2003- Kimberly Dolan, Arizona*
2004- Sabrina Gibson, Hawaii*
2005- Tami Ough, Oregon*
2006- Karen Patton, Alaska*
2007- Michelle Mayberry, Washington*
2008- Erin Nomura, Montana
2009- Cinzia Clapp, Alaska*
2010- Viko Newman, Washington
FIGURE PAST CHAMPS
2001- Sandy Grant, Washington*
2002- Elaine Goodlad, Canada*
2003- Misty Yi, Washington*
2004- Chastity Slone, Ohio*
2005- Anna Larsson, Sweden*
2006- Sonia Adcock(Gonzales), California*
2007- Erin Heath, California
2008- Chrissy Burton, New Hampshire
2009- Courtney Bynog, Louisiana
2010- Heather Grace, Colorado
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