Kelowna club impresses, improves at provincials

The Kelowna Speed Skating Club sent eight skaters to the B.C. ShortTrack Championship in Abbotsford last weekend and came home with five age-group overall medals.

Three of the skaters — Dylan Baliski, Erik Haaheim and Kenzie Adams — will now represent B.C. at the Canada West Short-Track Championships in Saskatoon on March 18-19.

Several skaters improved their personal-best times at this meet, and demonstrated that a year of training has paid off.

According to coach Nancy Goplen, a lot of work was done on their starts and sprinting technique since Christmas. This paid off with better positioning after the first corner. Their long distances were strong, so it was just a matter of refining some technical issues to be able to improve the sprints.

Baliski (U15 boys), having missed part of the season due to injuries, set two new personals in the 200 and 400 metres and punched his ticket to Can West by placing seventh overall.

Jacob Rubuliak (U14 boys) also set two personals in the 200 and 400 and ranked third overall in the age category.

Jacob qualified for Can West but declined his position due to other commitments. Jack Graves (U14) skated to ninth overall.

Erik Haaheim (U13 boys) also placed third overall and earned his spot on the Can West team.

Like Baliski, he set new personalbest times in the 200 and 400, while Kenzie Adams (U13 girls) continued the trend by placing third overall and setting personal-best times in the 200 and 400. She will join Haaheim and Baliski in Saskatoon.

Meanwhile, Noah Rubuliak (U12) skated to another bronze medal in the overall ranking and also set new personals in the 200 and 400.

Calla Haaheim and Jacqueline Baliski, both 9, made their debut at provincials and proved they will be skaters to watch in the future.

Calla finished fourth overall in the U12 division and won a silver medal in the U10 division. She set new personals in the 1,200 metres as well as the 200 and 400.

Jacqueline, fresh off a figure-skating competition, skated to personals in the 1,200 and 400 to finish 13th overall in the U12 division.

Noah will be age-eligible for Can West next year, while Calla and Jacqueline will have to wait a few years.

Photo submitted Members of the Kelowna Speed Skating Club, from left, Noah Rubuliak, Jacob Rubuliak, Calla Haaheim, Erik Haaheim and Kenzie Adams show off their medals from the short-track provincials in Abbotsford.