Local Skaters Compete At Sectionals
The Chatham Skating Club sent 6 of its competitive skaters to the 2016 Skate Canada Western Ontario Sectional Skating Championships, at the new Atlas Tubes Center in Lakeshore, Ontario, this past weekend, Nov. 6-8. Hundreds of skaters from all over Western Ontario attended this competition with hopes of ranking in the top 4 in order to advance.
The purpose of Sectionals, is to identify the top skaters in Pre-Novice up to Senior, in each province (Ontario having four Sections) for advancement to the next round of qualifying events at the Skate Canada Challenge, and then ultimately leading to the Canadian Figure Skating Championships. Sectionals is a skater’s first exposure to the true competitive stream of competition, and is to be organized from a technical perspective as closely as possible to the Canadian Championships in terms of rules and competitive experience.
The Juvenile and Pre-Juvenile events are also held at this Sectional Competition, but only as an invitational competition and skaters do not advance.
In Novice Women, Olivia Stallaert placed 18th in the Ladies Short Program and fought for 12th place in the Ladies FreeSkate, ranking her 17th place overall at her event.
Hannah Ross landed the 22nd spot in the Pre-Novice Women’s Short Program and skated to finish 17th in the FreeSkate, giving her an overall placement of 18th at this event.
During the Pre-Novice Dance pair event, Chase Ireland-Heidt of Chatham and his partner, Natalie Robinson from the RIdgetown Figure Skating Club, placed 8th overall, after finishing in 7th place each, at the 2 individual Pattern Dances; the Harris Tango and the Blues, and also placing 7th with their Free Dance.
At the non qualifying events, Chatham skaters took to the ice.
Zachary Stallaert landed on the podium with the Bronze Medal as he skated his FreeSkate in the Juvenile Men- Under 14 event.
While at the Pre-Juvenile Men – Under 13 event, Joshua Andari captured the Gold Medal with his FreeSkate.
Gabrielle Doey landed in 6th place in Pre-Juvenile Women – Under 13, skating her Freeskate for the first time at this competition.
Lastly, fairly new Dance Pair, Joshua Andari and his partner, Alyssa Robinson from the Ridgetown Figure Skating Club, took centre podium as they captured the Gold Medal in the Pre-Juvenile Dance event, after placing first in each Pattern Dance; the Swing and the Fiesta Tango.