The Moose Jaw Skating Club had five skaters compete at Sectionals in Aberdeen on Nov. 11-13 and each one performed some of their best skates of the season so far.
Paige Harper, Maria Hadley-Cole and Erika Wilson all competed in the pre-novice category and each had great skates and performances in the short and long programs. Ryann Terry performed in the pre-juvenile ladies category and Raine Eberl skated in the boys pre-juvenile category. Wilson and Eberl danced to a pre-juvenile bronze medal for the team.
“They are did really good,” said choreographer and coach Sarah Clarke. “Erika and Raine had a solid skate, placing third overall and medalled.”
Harper had a personal best score on her short program and placed 11th overall out of 28 skaters. Hadley-Cole had personal best on her long program performance and placed 12th overall.
“They points were the highest they have ever been,” Clarke explained.
Wilson had two great skates and scored personal bests in her first year in pre-novice. This was a huge step up for Wilson and had two good performances at the competition.
Terry also had personal bests in her category as a first year competitor.
“Overall, competition was difficult, but all the skaters shined,” she said. “The kids worked hard from the beginning of the season to now and all of their hard worked showed.”
The team will continue to work hard in practice as they gear up for the Jean Norman competition that will be held in Swift Current on Feb. 24-26. The Jean Norman is a big competition that has skaters from all over the province come and skate.
‘We got to keep improving and training hard for rest of the season,” Clarke said. “A few kids are getting new programs, so we are just trying the new programs and work on building their overall performances.”
The team and the personal skaters have set goals, including trying to set new personal bests at every meet, in order to push themselves and get better — technically and choreographically.
For more on this story, read Wednesday's Times-Herald.
