Kelowna athletes win 31 medals at regionals
The Kelowna Skating Club had a highly successful weekend at the Okanagan Regional Figure Skating Championships, held at Vernon’s Remax Centre.
In all, 27 local skaters captured 31 medals, which was the most by any participating club.
There were many highlights for the Kelowna contingent, including several podium sweeps.
At the Pre-Novice Women’s level, 12-yearold Emily Sales won the free program with a personal-best score of 56.78 points, while also winning the short program with 28.08 points.
Brooklyn Cowen and Abby Bulawka won silver and bronze, respectively, in the free program, while Bulawka and Kira Koffler took silver and bronze in the short program.
At the Juvenile level, Ava Sanderson led the field with a score of 27.14 points. Her club mates Mackenzie Nelmes and Katie Jones finished second and third.
Jones won her second medal of the weekend, leading a sweep in the Creative Improv 4 event, as Aurora Schultz and Konstantina Lock took silver and bronze.
Another Kelowna trio finished 1-2-3 in the Star 5 Girls under-10 event.
Sophie Sanderson won the gold medal thanks to a personal-best score of 19.2 points, while Ariana Rose and Calissa Adlem finished second and third, respectively.
Podium sweeps continued into the Element events, as Kiera Atkins won gold in the Open Elements event, with Konstantina Lock and Emily Sales deadlocked in the tie for silver.
Yet another podium sweep occurred in the Star 6 Elements division, this time with Ariana Rose leading the way with her second medal, as Christiana Lock and Lauren Viau tied for silver.
Viau won another silver medal in the Silver Women Interpretive division.
Olivia Levesque also won a pair of medals, winning the Novice Women’s short and finishing second in the free program.
Jacqueline Baliski did likewise, as she won a gold in Star 4 Elements and silver in group 1 of Star 4 Girls under 13.
At the Pre-Juvenile level, Kelowna’s Megan Yudin won with a personal-best score of 26.88 points, while Gabrielle Jugnauth finished third.
Rounding out the medal haul were Marina Land with a gold in group 1 of Star 4 Girls under 13, while Payton Bannerman and Mary Olsvik won silver medals in Star 4 Girls under 10 and Star 4 Girls under 13 (group 2), respectively. Here are the full results: Pre-Juvenile Women U13: Megan Yudin 1st; Gabrielle Jugnauth 3rd; Konstantina Lock 4th; Sarah Mullins 5th
Juvenile Women U14: Ava Sanderson 1st; Mackenzie Nelmes 2nd; Katie Jones 3rd; Paige Edgar 4th; Aurora Schultz 6th
Pre-Novice Women Short: Emily Sales 1st; Abby Bulawka 2nd; Kira Koffler 3rd; Kiera Atkins 4th Brooklyn Cowen 5th
Pre-Novice Women Free: Emily Sales 1st; Brooklyn Cowen 2nd; Abby Bulawka 3rd; Kira Koffler 4th; Kiera Atkins 5th Novice Women Short: Olivia Levesque 1st Novice Women Free: Olivia Levesque 2nd Silver Women Interpretive: Lauren Viau 2nd Star 4 Girls U10: Payton Bannerman 2nd Star 4 Girls U13 group 1: Marina Land 1st; Jacqueline Baliski 2nd
Star 4 Girls U13 group 2: Mary Olsvik 2nd; Veronica Jurska 4th
Star 5 Women U10: Sophie Sanderson 1st; Ariana Rose 2nd; Calissa Adlem 3rd; Christiana Lock 4th
Star 6 Women: Lauren Viau 5th; Madison Land 7th; Jenna Penner 11th Star 4 Elements: Jacqueline Baliski 1st Star 6 Elements: Ariana Rose 1st; Christiana Lock 2nd; Lauren Viau 2nd (tie)
Open Elements: Kiera Atkins 1st; Konstantina Lock 2nd; Emily Sales 2nd (tie); Mackenzie Nelmes 4th
Creative Improv Women 4: Katie Jones 1st; Aurora Schultz 2nd; Konstantina Lock 3rd