 She won her class at the 1987 Palm Springs Muscle Classic Novice contest, and followed her debut with a victory at the 1987 Tournament of Champions where she won both her class and overall.She continued training, but ran into trouble due to her lack of knowledge about dieting and exercise and often overtrained (Brainum, 223).This soon changed when Gafner joined with a more experienced bodybuilder named Lisa Hitchens.