Teri Ivey competes in a bench press event at a powerlifting meet. Ivey is currently competing to be featured on the cover of popular female fitness magazine Muscle and Fitness Hers.

A Jacksonville woman who recently became passionate about powerlifting is in the running to be featured on the cover of popular fitness magazine, Muscle and Fitness Hers.

West Side Elementary School special education teacher Teri Ivey said she has been into fitness in some sort throughout her life, but her interest in powerlifting grew after she entered a local competition a few years ago.

“In 2018, at the age of 48, I was invited to compete in the Muscles for Miracles charity meet at MetroFlex in Tyler,” Ivey said. “I decided to enter the competition and won. That was all it took for my interest in the sport of powerlifting to take off.”

Now 51, Ivey has earned three International Powerlifting League world records along with multiple state and national records in various federations.

Ivey said the magazine reached out to her to offer a spot to participate in the competition to be on the cover. She went for it.

“Muscle and Fitness Hers magazine is an excellent resource for women. It is a place to be encouraged by seeing women who are engaged in the various sports like powerlifting, bodybuilding, CrossFit, Strongman and more — not only participating, but being successful at the sports,” Ivey said. “… Being physically active has not only changed my body composition for the better, but I am healthier now than I have ever been. I have more energy, enhanced mental focus, and I am just an overall happier person.”

Online voting for the top 15 contestants continues through 7 p.m. Thursday. On Friday, Ivey was ranked second out of 32.

The grandmother of nine said being on the cover would be a dream come true.

“To be on the cover of the magazine would allow me the opportunity to show that physical fitness has no age boundaries and that there are many other aspects of fitness,” she said. “I want others to see that if you put in the work, you can reach heights you may not have ever thought you could reach.”

Ivey is also in the running to win $20,000.

“I would like to provide young lifters with gear needed to begin lifting, training with my notable powerlifting coach Josh Bryant or other coaches such as Stacy Burr,” Ivey said. “Then I would like to obtain my certification to become a powerlifting coach, so I can pass my knowledge to others.”

Ivey said that although powerlifting is an individual sport, she couldn’t do it alone.

“I train at Raw Iron Gym in Jacksonville, and it really is more like a family than a gym,” she said. “My gym home, my significant other Terry, I wouldn’t be where I am now, competing to be on the cover a fitness magazine, without them.”

Ivey is also training for the American Powerlifting Federation National Championship in June and the International Powerlifting League World Championship happening in October.