Concord’s Walton hopes perfect axel can carry her to nationals

ASTON » As Heleyna Walton mentally navigates her figure skating program, the corners of her mouth turn up in a smile when she talks about her double axel.

She grasped the jump quickly, as the 12-year-old has most elements of her craft on the ice. But when she had to perform the highest degree-of-difficulty element in the Juvenile age group, she struggled to land it cleanly. Psychologically more than physically, she labored to focus her efforts on turning a vulnerability into a strength.

“I have to focus in on that jump, and it’s worth the most points,” Walton said last Thursday. “It’s the hardest element in the level that I am, so it’s very important to make sure that I do that correctly.”

With her focus dialed in at last month’s South Atlantic Regional Championships at IceWorks, the Concord native earned a silver medal. And in the latest and biggest step of her young career, that placement lands Walton at this week’s Eastern Sectional Championship in Boxborough, Mass., where her second could stretch to the 2018 Nationals in January.

Whatever transpires in the event starting Wednesday, Walton relished her performance — even more so than her eventual placement — at Regionals and the opportunities it’s availed her of. Her pathway has been paved by attention to detail in honing her mental focus.

“It means a lot to me because it’s my first time qualifying for it,” Walton said. “… It’s such a big deal for me. I was so excited to be able to qualify for that. I was surprised because it’s my first time and I didn’t start off the season too great, but then I just turned it around at the end and it meant a lot to me.”

“It’s the biggest step for her so far. It is a huge step,” said Megan Williams-Stewart, one of Walton’s coaches. “It puts her in the spotlight. It gets her name out there because out of 140 girls in her level this year, she was second in that region, so it puts her out there for the next year, and she’s now known as an up-andcomer by proving herself.”

At Regionals in October, Walton emerged from a crowded field in a jurisdiction that spans south to Florida. She was second in her qualifying round with a score of 44.18 points but executed flawlessly in the final. (Juvenile, the youngest age group in the competition and the lowest of five for which U.S. Figure Skating conducts those Regionals, involves just one free skate per round.)

In the finals, Walton, skating to “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend,” from the movie Moulin Rouge, increased her score to 56.23. She fell just 0.21 points shy of the winner, Elli Kopmar of Southwest Florida FSC, comfortably gaining a Sectionals spot bestowed on the top four finishers.

Walton scored bonus points on both of her double axels, one standalone and one double axelsingle loop-double flip combination.

She posted the highest component score of the competition, which factors in artistic aptitudes such as “skating skills, performance and interpretation of music” and aced the program without a deduction.

“Tears and excitement, a lot of excitement,” was how WilliamsStewart described the joy of qualification. “It was nice to see her very confident in her skating and to see all of her hard work pay off. She’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen, not just as a coach but in my 27 years of skating.”

It’s all the more impressive given Walton’s relatively late gravitation toward skating. She