2008 Arnold Amateur Figure - Class B Preview
FigureRX Online Magazine Volume 3
February 10, 2008
Official 2008 Arnold Amateur Figure Class B Preview
Class B started out as the smallest, with nine athletes, but grew to at least fifteen with the change in height classes. The class has Canadian stars, masters champions, former bodybuilders, and several state figure winners - and a few of our favorites in *all* of amateur figure starting with our spotlight athlete
Jennifer Jackson.
Class B Old Height Class: Over 5'2†and up to and including 5'3†(9 athletes)
Class B New Height Class: Over 5'1†and up to and including 5'2-1/2†(16 athletes)
The original competitor lists used the old height classes, but all athletes will be measured and placed in the new height classes on site. We have already moved several competitors from Class A to Class B and others from B to C, with the result being an increase in Class B competitors. The list and preview that you see below has been adjusted to the best of our knowledge. If we have not been able to reach someone to make an adjustment we will make the correction in the contest reports!!
FigureRX Class B Spotlight Athlete - Jennifer Jackson
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We obviously think that our spotlight athlete for Class B,
Jennifer Jackson, is a rapidly rising star ... not only that, we think she has a prototype physique for modern figure. We know that's a pretty strong statement from a company that covers the entire sport, but Jennifer not only has made an impact every time she hits the stage but she also works with one of the best, her friend and IFBB pro
Julie Lohre.
Jennifer is a new car sales manager from Michigan who will be starting the year off strong not only in Columbus but at Junior USA's and Junior Nationals. In the off-season her focus has been on making subtle improvements to her glutes and hamstrings. We'll be keeping an eye on her web site to see when it is up and running (
http://www.jennjackson.com/) and you should too.
You can read Jennifer's full spotlight interview by going here.
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NPC Figure Arnold Jennifer Jackson East Tawas Michigan
There we were all ready to talk about our third Alabama star in Figure Class A, but now we have our first of two
Teresa Baggett in Class B and both have a chance to challenge at the top. We are huge fans of Teresa's, not only does she have a superb physique with world class abdominals, she's already a successful fitness model having appeared in the popular Jet Fuel ad. Teresa has also been photographed several times by the discerning assessor of talent,
Terry Goodlad. So at
FigureRX we're certain that Teresa is a superstar waiting to happen on the national figure scene and it begins at the Arnold.
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NPC Figure Arnold Teresa Baggett Hoover Alabama
Candice Houston from the Las Vegas area is already at the top of the national scene, having finished 2nd in Class A at North Americans last year. When Candice comes in hard she has one of the best bodies on stage, especially with her abs and legs. She will also challenge at the top of this class and with the changes in height class we think she has an excellent shot at a pro card in 2008.
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NPC Figure Arnold Candice Houston Henderson Nevada
One of the star Canadians in this class is extremely gorgeous and successful fitness model
Michele Levesque from Montreal. This athlete is a threat at the top in any show that she enters, even though she has only been competing for two years, because she has intense dedication to her contest prep. Michele grew up in a small town and was extremely athletic with a background in gymnastics, figure skating, biking and skiing. She has a college degree in kinesiology and is also last year's Musclemania Figure Universe short class and overall champion. Watch for Michele becuase she simply glows on stage.
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NPC Figure Arnold Michele Levesque L'Assomption Quebec Montreal Canada
One of the battle tested figure athletes to come out of the extremely competitive Texas NPC scene is
Kandi Allen, who tore up the state in 2007 taking Class A titles at the Heart of Texas and the Europa and second place at the Texas State. Kandi is a single mom who works as an assistant athletic director for a private workout facility, a personal trainer, a group fitness instructor, and a dog and cat groomer! We don't get to Texas very often for shows (that will change this year) so it will be exciting to see her on stage.
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NPC Figure Arnold Kandi Allen Plano Texas
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-----Competing in 2008? Get the full state and local NPC contest schedule right here on
FigureRX.
-----Updated almost daily, click
HERE.
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-----When the show is over, just return to the schedule to find our links to the best coverage!!
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Our second competitor in Class B from the Crimson state is
Amber Hill, who has a beautiful overall shape and great delts. Amber used to do bodybuilding which explains her great muscle quality, and she is a Team MannaTech Athlete. In 2006 she stepped on stage to compete less than a year after her third daughter was born – and won first place in her class at the Las Vegas Classic! She also placed 2nd in Class A at the 2006 Clash at the Capstone.
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NPC Figure Arnold Amber Hill Birmingham Alabama
Sindia Quinones-Powers, otherwise known as SinQT, is a swimsuit and fitness model who is making her move into figure. Sindia was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in New York, but now lives in Ohio where some of her best modeling is Cleveland sports themed. After the Arnold she plans to compete at the Northern Kentucky, and we hope to learn more about her as a spotlight athlete for that event.
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NPC Figure Arnold Sindia Quinones-Powers Cleveland Ohio
We have tremendous respect for
Jean Jitomir, a former bodybuilder who now does figure and has successfully made the transition. She is an excellent writer with a huge fitness-related knowledge base, and if you haven't seen her blog on her MySpace we highly recommend checking it out (
http://www.myspace.com/jeanjitomir). Jean has a string of advanced degrees including a bachelor's from Cornell, the alma mater of
Jamie Reed, and a two-year degree at SUNY-Buffalo which is in my home town of Williamsville. You can bet that Jean will be ready for this show and obviously we will be happy if someone with her physique type does very well.
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NPC Figure Arnold Jean Jitomir Waco Texas
Our second Canadian star in this class is
Katie Kersey, who is well known for her tremendous conditioning and preparation. Katie works with IFBB Pro
Jane Awad, for whom we have a ton of respect, and we really like her physique type which includes superb quads and beautifully capped delts. She recently received some mainstream coverage in the Windstor Star, and you can see the article by going
here. Look for Katie to bounce back significantly from her placing at the 2007 North Americans.
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NPC Figure Arnold Katie Kersey Windsor Ontario Canada
New Jersey competitor
Lisa Person has come a long way in a short period of time and the Arnold just may be her breakout show. You can learn more about her inspiring story by going
here. Lisa placed 7th in Figure A at the 2007 New Jersey Gold's Classic and 2nd place at the 2007 East Coast Figure.
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NPC Figure Arnold Lisa Person Mt. Mount Laurel New Jersey
Katrinka Danielson from Oregon will be making her first appearance on the national scene, while Floridian
Lori Quintero placed in the top five in Figure A at the 2005 NPC Southern States and competed at the 2006 Junior Nationals, placing 12th in her class. We like Lori's level of muscle but it has been a while since we have seen her on stage so it will be interesting to see the look that she presents.
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NPC Figure Arnold Katrinka Danielson Springfield Oregon Lori Quintero West Palm Beach Florida
Laura Moreland-Rose is part of a particularly amazing group of talent coming out of South Carolina in the past couple of years - you will see many of them impress on the national stage in 2008 and SC is one of the states heavily represented in our figure media guide. Laura has good genetics, especially her joints, and she placed 12th in Class A at the 2007 Junior Nationals. How anybody is able to balance an investment banking career with competition we don't know, but
Jill Frew from New York has been able to do it very successfully over the past few years.
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NPC Figure Arnold Laura Moreland-Rose Columbia South Carolina Jill Frew New York New York
Michigan competitor
Stephanie Martini also competed at Junior Nationals last year, placing 11th, and we think she has an excellent overall shape and could have been higher at that show. We don't much at all about
Heather Brooke Malone other than she used to compete in the OCB, which is popular in the Atlantic States region. We look forward to learning more about her in Ohio.
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NPC Figure Arnold Stephanie Martini Walled Lake Michigan Heather Brooke Malone Randallstown Maryland
) I was way out of shape and once I got started lifting I haven't been able to stop. I just love it! Once I started training a lot I thought competing was something I might like to do but bodybuilding just wasn't for me and at that time there really wasn't a figure class. So basically one day I got up enough courage to contact (my total fitness icon 
) 
I love my stairmaster.
Just kidding, actually I prefer to work out alone because I can really get focused on what I'm doing and keep right on track with rest periods, etc.
