Articles The Wennerstrom Report Flashback In Time: NPC Cal State Women's Bodybuilding Championships!
Perhaps it was because the state of California got off to a running start when it staged the first California Women's Bodybuilding Championships in 1980. And of course there was the already glowing identity Venice Beach and Gold's Gym had brought to Southern California as a bastion for those who aspired to reach muscle stardom. But over the 30 years since that first event, ‘The California' has been recognized as 
the most prestigious state bodybuilding contest in the country for women.
Growing quickly in its first five years of existence and producing outstanding competitors who were making their collective ways to the IFBB pro ranks and even the Ms. Olympia, it was the NPC California in 1986 that still brings back vivid memories of a contest that was, along with it's huge 42-contestant field, one of the most competitive women's bodybuilding events ever.
Why? A perusal of the entry list tells much of the story. But a closer look at the final score sheets tells an equally compelling tale.
Staged, appropriately enough, in the state capitol of Sacramento on May 17th,at the Sacramento Community Center Theatre, and promoted by Mitch and Brenda Renz, the 1986 NPC California was a monster event, and the entrants in every weight class were memorable - so much so, several of them are still very recognizable today.
The Lightweights, Then and Now........
A field of 11 contestants made up a lightweight class whose upper limit was only 108 ½ pounds. That said, 
there was still a 21-pound differential between the smallest and largest competitors in the class - a differential never seen at today's lightweight competitions. The eventual winner was Jodie Hanson from Riverside and she was a near unanimous choice of the judges at 104 ½ well-balanced pounds. In a range from 87 ½ to 108 ½ pounds among the lightweights, a 97 ¾-pound teenager struggled to make the top five and fell short placing sixth. Her name was Claire Bullis and there would be far better days for this youngster, albeit many years in her future - two decades in the future to be exact. Eighteen-year-old Claire Bullis became Claire O'Connell, and in 2006 she won the overall NPC California Championships, and still a lightweight, although looking considerably different than the 97-pound version from 20 years earlier.
Today the lightweight limit is 115 pounds, and O'Connell has made sweeping (no pun intended) improvements to her overall physique. So much so that in the same year she won the overall California title, she added the NPC USA lightweight crown. Now a mother of two children, her oldest is at the same age Claire was when she began her competitive bodybuilding efforts.
...And Then There Were Three - The Middleweights
The middleweight division surprised everyone when just three women made weight. In 1986 the upper limit was 114 ½ pounds - close to the upper limit of lightweights today. The winner of this class was Michelle Ivers, and if that name sounds familiar, it should, she's still competing in the NPC to this day. As Ivers - now married and competing as Michelle Brent - will admit, she seldom did anything with ease in her competitive career, and at this event she struggled mightily to win her class by a scant one-point over Carla Bloom. Ivers has competed regularly over the past 20 years and has amassed more top-five placings at various national-level contests than any other active NPC competitor. Now, as she approaches 50, she is in the best shape of her long and distinguished bodybuilding career.
A Mind-Numbing Weight Class Struggle - The Light-Heavyweights
A contingent of 16 contestants checked in for the light-heavyweight category, and little could anyone imagine the titanic battle that was about to take place in this most competitive of the four classes.
With a bevy of women who possessed a solid national-level muscle quality, three competitors made their presence felt with notably different, yet impressively muscled physiques. Contestant number 19 was Laura Creavalle - still three years away from becoming an IFBB pro. Number 24 was a lean and highly defined Sheryl Marshall. Number 29 was the thickly-developed Renee Casella. Casella weighed in at the top of the class - 125 ¼ pounds. Creavalle weighed 122, with Marshall in between Casella and Creavalle at 124 ¼.
The battle was on. And the trio mentioned above did little to make a final judging decision any easier. In fact, calling the final result of the top three in this class a ‘dead heat' would be a considerable understatement.
For the record, Renee Casella won the class. But her victory only came by way of a judges' tie-breaker as all three top finishers tallied 10 points each. The three-way tie is a rarity in bodybuilding competitions, and this one was the first anyone could remember in a women's event. Each competitor was outstanding within her own structural appearance. Casella was thickly muscled - especially in the upper body - in direct comparison to Creavalle and Marshall. And her delts were pro level quality - not to mention the crisp cross striations in her triceps. She had made notable improvements over her fifth-place finish at this contest a year earlier.
Creavalle possessed the best overall balance and proportion of the trio, and her back double biceps and abdominal poses were second to none. Creavalle had already achieved a level of fame as the 1983 Canadian lightweight champion in an age when the rules applying to foreign contestants competing in American national-level events had not yet been clearly defined. Creavalle's overall look was so good, in fact, she went on to win the light-heavyweight and overall crowns at the 1986 NPC USA Championships, prompting a rule that - in the future - only U.S. citizens could compete in the top national events in the United States.
At 25, Sheryl Marshall was the youngest of the threesome and brought an outstanding overall structural balance and a high level of definition in the pecs, arms and quads - all of which created quite a buzz during the prejudging comparisons. The awards ceremony in this class was one of those moments where an emcee's oft times clichéd summation rang true in this instance, "...all three look like winners tonight". Indeed they did.
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| Renee Casella and Laura Creavalle |
Of the three, both Renee Casella and Laura Creavalle moved on and continued with distinguished competitive careers. Casella won the 1987 NPC Nationals light-heavyweight class, and was the gold medalist in the middleweight category at the 1987 IFBB World Amateur Championships. She competed in the 1988 Ms. Olympia placing 12th, and made a successful comeback in 2000 placing third in the lightweight class at the Ms. Olympia, followed by a sixth-place finish in 2001 before calling it a career.
Creavalle on the other hand became one of the legendary figures in women's bodybuilding history winning the heavyweight class at the 1988 IFBB World Amateur Championships, followed by a glowing pro career that included her entry in a record 13 Ms. Olympia contests, along with three victories at the IFBB Ms. International. Creavalle was also elected to the Joe Weider Bodybuilding Hall of Fame in 2007 as further recognition of her outstanding efforts during her bodybuilding career.
The Heavyweights - A Group of 12 with Several 10's
With a dozen heavyweights placed in the unenviable position of serving up an encore to the sizzling light-heavyweight class competition, it was left to Santa Rosa's Cathey Palyo to do what none of the other class winners had done.....earn a unanimous decision of the seven-judge panel. Polished, and looking every bit the pro-in-waiting this night, Palyo displayed a level of muscle maturity to which no one in this class came close.
The 1986 season would be a highly successful one for Palyo as she moved on to the NPC Nationals to win both the heavyweight and overall titles. Following her Nationals victory she traveled to Singapore to win the heavyweight class at the IFBB World Amateur Championships.
A controversial figure and outspoken her philosophies regarding the sport during her relatively short tenure as an IFBB pro, Palyo won the 1988 IFBB Ms. International, and in two trips to the Ms. Olympia where she placed 14th in 1988 and 16th in '89, she dropped from the radar of the competitive pro scene.
Runner-up to Palyo in the Cal heavyweight division was the contest's largest competitor - Karen Rodriquez. Regal and statuesque at 5-9 and just a shade under 160 pounds, the Northern Californian from Burlingame was a solid choice for the second place spot. Unlike others who finished behind her, Rodriquez never moved on to the pro ranks although she could have quite easily made a major impact at that level.
With Mimi Hitzman claiming the third place position, much of the attention turned to fourth placer Lory Walkup Green. Statuesque in the same strata.jpg)
as Karen Rodriquez, Green distributed a beautifully proportioned 141 pounds on her 5-8 frame. With supermodel good looks and breathtaking leg development, Green graced the cover of the inaugural issue of Women's Physique World Magazine in Fall 1984. Modeling and acting developed from her involvement in bodybuilding and Green appeared on the April 1986 cover of Muscle & Fitness, and the August 1986 issue of Strength Training for Beauty. Green also was the box-cover model for the video version of ‘Iron Bodies' produced by Active Home Video in 1985. She also scored a role (earning screen credit as the character ‘Rosie') in the Andy Sidaris film ‘Hard Ticket to Hawaii' in 1987. Like Rodriquez, Green never aspired to reach the pro ranks.
Following Green in the fifth-place position was Liz Karp. Three years away from her most successful days competitively, Karp would become the heavyweight runner-up to Lenda Murray at the 1989 IFBB North American Championships. Later that year she captured the heavyweight class at the '89 NPC Nationals earning the right to turn pro. Karp opted to pass on entering the pro ranks and dropped from the competitive scene to become an avid cyclist. Possessing a physical look as that of the quintessential all-around athlete, Karp was well-proportioned from head to toe with legs that were widely admired both in and out of bodybuilding circles.
Midway through the 12-contestant class was sixth placer Debi Prater. All but a very few would recognize the name, but the face and physique would strike a more familiar chord when she continued her competitive career as Debi Lee Stern. After putting her bodybuilding efforts aside to start a family following this contest, Stern later decided to enter the fitness arena and fared well. A winner of the 1989 Ms. Fitness California, she followed up that victory with the prestigious Ms. Fitness USA title in 1993. Stern later entered the IFBB pro fitness ranks competing in several events that included trips to France, Italy, and Denmark. She also competed in three Ms. International contests placing as high as fourth in 1999, and two Ms. Olympia events where she placed ninth in 1996 and seventh in l998. Today the recently remarried Debi Wilson is an IFBB pro judge and has for several years contributed her time at events such as the Ms. International where she competed a decade earlier.
With little argument, the 1986 NPC California was a watershed event that helped jettison several of the sport's most colorful physiques and personalities into the future. And although the days of 42 contestants entering the bodybuilding division of any state contest are now just a part of the sport's evolution, it nonetheless remains as a contest that few, if any, who competed in it will ever forget.....just ask Claire O'Connell or Michelle Brent.
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