32 Alberta skaters compete at nationals
The 2019 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships take place in Saint John, N.B. with 32 skaters representing Alberta among the 250 vying for the national glory.
As well as aiming for Canadian titles, athletes at this event will vie for spots on the Skate Canada National Team, which competes at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships, the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships and the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships.
“We are excited and proud of the hard work and commitment our athletes are putting in, and the results are showing,” said Lisa Hardy, executive director of Skate Canada: Alberta-NWT/Nunavut Section. “This is the highest number of athletes our section has seen competing at the nationals in the last 10 years. And it’s a perfect way to kick off our celebration of the successes that the Skate Canada: Alberta-NWT/Nunavut Section has left on our sport over the past 50 years.”
This year, the section sends six dance teams from qualifications, including the 2019 Skate Canada Challenge novice gold-medallist team of Isabel McQuilkin and Jacob Portz from the Calalta Figure Skating Club in Calgary.
Other Alberta skaters to keep an eye on include novice men’s skater Matthew Newnham and senior men’s skater Eric Liu, both from Edmonton’s Ice Palace Figure Skating Club.
Newnham won silver and Liu placed fourth in the Skate Canada Challenge in November.
Kaiya Ruiter, of the Glencoe Club in Calgary, is competing in the novice women’s category and is already demanding attention at the national championships after placing first in the short program Monday.
Of course, all eyes across the country will be on Alberta senior men’s skater Keegan Messing, of the Sherwood Park Skating Club, who is hunting for gold at the nationals. Messing captured silver in October at the Skate Canada International competition held in Laval, Que., and has yet to add national gold to his impressive list of achievements.
The Alberta contingent is made up of: Alexandra Sarmiento Diaz (novice women), of the Extreme Edge SC Novice women; Kaiya Ruiter (novice women), of The Glencoe Club; Matthew Newnham (novice men), of the Ice Palace FSC; Tim Pomares (novice men), of the Okotoks Skating Club; Tobiah Wong (novice men), of the Ice Palace FSC; Isabel McQuilkin/Jacob Portz (novice dance), of the Calalta FSC; Mia Saunders/William Oddson (novice dance), of the Calalta FSC and the Huntington Hills Skating Club; Mychala Collier/Mackenzie Mah (novice dance) of the Ice Palace FSC; Juliette Shadid/Lucas Shadid (novice dance), of the Calalta FSC; Asha Gumpinger/Josh Brauner (novice pair), of the Calalta FSC; Lauren Proskurniak/ Andrew Sernecky (novice pair), of the Derrick Skating Club; Haley Gillett ( junior women), of the Sherwood Park FSC; Brian Chiem ( junior men), of the Ice Palace FSC; Dawson Nodwell (junior men), of the Springbank Figure Skating Club; Jessica-Lee Behiel/ Jackson Behiel ( junior dance), of the Calalta FSC; Sophia O’Brien Doerksen/Kyle Pearson ( junior dance), of the Calalta FSC; Marin Ono/Matthew den Boer ( junior pairs), of the Calalta FSC; Aislinn Ganci (senior women), of the Sherwood Park FSC; Jane Gray (senior women), of the Canmore Skating Club; Madison Moore (senior women), of the Ice Palace FSC; Dustin Sherriff-Clayton (senior men), of the Calalta FSC (senior men); Keegan Messing, of the Sherwood Park FSC; and Eric Liu (senior men), of the Ice Palace FSC.