Five local skaters qualified for next month’s Nationals at Vancouver

Canada’s top skaters converged at Pierrefonds, Quebec last week, for the 2017 Skate Canada Challenge.

The Challenge served as a final qualification round for the Skate Canada Nationals in January.

The Kelowna Skating Club once again proved that their skaters match up very well with the best in the country, as five local skaters qualified for next month’s Nationals at Vancouver.

At the Novice level, 13-year-old Daria Carr landed six triple jumps through her short and free programs to score a personal best 125.95 points, good for the silver medal and a berth to the Nationals.

Kelowna’s Vienna Harwood finished in 9th place overall with 103.91 points. Harwood also advances to the Nationals due to her top-18 finish.

Mikayla Kramer, who represents the Arctic Edge club of Whitehorse, but trains at Kelowna, finished 30th overall in the field of Canada’s top 60 Novice skaters.

At the Junior level, 14-year- old Olivia Gran scored 141.42 total points to finish 4th overall in a close race.

Her club mate, Emma Bulawka finished in 6th overall with 139.38 points in total. Both Gran and Bulawka qualified for Nationals with their respective top-18 finishes.

In the Senior Dance discipline, Haley Sales and her partner Nik Wamsteeker won the event with a score of 156.66 points. The pair qualified to their 4th straight Nationals in the process.

“These results are very positive for our club,” noted Kelowna Skating Club Director Jason Mongrain. “All of the skaters who qualified matched up well with the best in the country, which should make for an exciting Nationals at Vancouver.”