Skaters from the Quesnel Figure Skating Club earned their fair share of medals last weekend at the provincial STARSkate championships in Cranbrook, B.C.

Nine local skaters took to the ice in Cranbrook and combined they came home with five medals and some personal best scores.

“It was quite an exciting weekend,” QFSC coach Jo-Ann Nadal said.

“The personal best scores were gratifying.”

Olivia Marleau, 12, led the way for Quesnel with a gold-medal performance in the juvenile ladies freeskate and a gold-medal performance in the silver interpretive skate competition.

Marleau, who has been skating since the age of five, said she was pleased with her performance and admitted she did experience some pre-skate jitters.

“My jumps weren’t consistent the week before,” she said.

“I was a little nervous about that.”

Despite feeling a little nervous about the jump, Marleau landed all her jumps and earned enough points to give her a personal best score.

“I guess I was more focused,” Marleau explained.

Selena Van Aert, 14, skated to a fourth-place finish in junior silver ladies freeskate competition.

“I didn’t have my best skate,” Van Aert said.

 Van Aert also earned a bronze medal in the silver interpretive dance competition.

“It felt really good,” she said.

“It felt like I performed better than I had before.”

Carmen Huang, 12, who began skating at the tender age of four, skated to a seventh-place finish in the juvenile ladies freeskate competition.

Huang also earned a silver medal for her performance in the bronze interpretive skating competition.

Huang admitted to being nervous prior to the competition, but once she hit the ice she had one thing on her mind.

“Just finishing it [performance],” she said.

Marin Paquin finished 15th in the junior bronze U12 freeskate and snagged a bronze medal in the introductory interpretive skate competition.

Megan Swaile skated to a 13th-place finish in senior bronze freeskate competition.

Kayla Flanagan, earned a seventh-place finish in junior bronze 13 and over freeskate competition.

Cassandra Greenwood, 12, skated to a fourth-place finish in the junior bronze U12 freeskate event and also earned an eighth-place finish in bronze interpretive skate.

Greenwood, who has been skating for 10 years, said she wasn’t nervous about the provincial championships and was looking forward to performing her routine, especially the footwork portion of her routine which is her favourite part because of its difficulty.

Madison Nickolet finished in 17th place in the preliminary freeskate for skaters 11 and older and finished in 14th place in the bronze interpretive skate competition.

Torrye McKenzie finished seventh in the gold interpretive skate competition.

Nadalin said the overall performance of the QFSC skaters was on par with that of skaters from Lower Mainland clubs.

“They[QFSC skaters] trained very well,” she said.

“They all did fantastic.”

 

Quesnel Cariboo Observer