Charles, Viana, Ryan Reign in Texas

May 6, 2002 Report:

ARLINGTON, Texas‘Darrem Charles rolled to his first victory as a professional at the initial Southwest USA Pro Cup, which was held May 3’4. Charles, a 5’9′, 215-pounder from Coconut Grove, Florida, scored an almost-unanimous victory, as he outdistanced second-placer Bob Cicherillo by 44 points. George Farah , who was making his pro debut, was tied with Cicherillo for second but lost out to his former training partner in the tie-breaker to land in third. J.D. Dawadu , who was on Charles’ tail after the prejudging, fell two slots at the finals to finish in fourth, while an all-time-best Willie Stallings rounded out the top five. Charles , Cicherillo and Farah qualified for the ’02 Mr. Olympia contest, to be held in Las Vegas in October.

In the Women’s Cup four-time Venezuelan champion Betty Viana topped Gayle Moher to take the Heavyweight class, then swept to victory in the Overall, besting Middleweight winner Angela Debatin and Lightweight titlist Susanne Niedenhauser . All three class winners earned Olympia qualifications. The closest rivalry of the weekend took place in the Pro Fitness Cup, where Kelly Ryan came from behind to narrowly overtake Jenny Hendershott for the win. The biggest surprise of the Ed and Betty Pariso‘produced event was the performance of Stacy Hylton, who moved into third in the tough 15-woman field after not having placed in her previous attempts at pro competition. In the process Hylton also earned the right to step on the Fitness Olympia stage in October. Kim Chizevsky, who won both swimsuit rounds, injured her knee during the 45-second routines on Friday night but still performed her two-minute routine at the finals to land in fourth overall. Carla Sanchez placed fifth.

Here are the rest of the results:

'02 Southwest USA Men’s Pro Cup

1) Darrem Charles*
2) Bob Cicherillo*
3) George Farah*
4) J.D. Dawodu
5) Willie Stallings
6) Gustavo Badell
7) Craig Titus
8) Paul Dillett
9) Tom Prince
10) Melvin Anthony
*Qualifies for the Mr. Olympia.

'02 Southwest USA Women’s Pro Cup

Overall: Betty Viana
Lightweight
1) Susanne Niedenhauser*
2) Denise Gerard
3) Jennifer McVicar
Middleweight
1) Angela Debatin*
2) Desiree Ellis
3) Myriam Bustamante
4) Mah-Ann Mendoza
5) Sophie Duquette
6) Mary Ellen Jerumbo
7) Heike Jung
Heavyweight
1) Betty Viana* (Overall)
2) Gayle Moher
3) Christine Envall
*Qualifies for the Ms. Olympia.

'02 Southwest USA Pro Fitness Cup
1) Kelly Ryan*
2) Jenny Hendershott*
3) Stacy Hylton*
4) Kim Chizevsky
5) Carla Sanchez
6) Jennifer Hanke
7) Angel Friend
8) Lisa Reed
9) Tracey Greenwood
10) Renee Masi
*Qualifies for the Fitness O.

Fux Tears Both Quads

Sources at Gold’s Gym, Fullerton, California, report that Swiss giant Jean-Pierre Fux tore the quads in both legs during a photo shoot with Flex magazine’s Chris Lund at the Milos Sarcev‘owned facility on Thursday, May 2. He was squatting fairly light’around 600 pounds’when he suddenly dropped to the floor. Fux was taken to the hospital, where he had surgery the next day. Here’s to a speedy recover, Jean-Pierre