Penticton’s Glengarry Figure Skating Club didn’t land any gold medals during its 31st annual Ogopogo Freeskate event at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
However, the skaters still delivered results that made them and their coach Alex Sergeev happy.
The three-day competition, with over 230 skaters, began Friday with low-level skaters impressing the judges. Ninety per cent of the skaters from Glengarry performed well.
Things continued to skate smoothly for the club as Francesca Amante finished second in both the Gold triathlon and Gold interpretive. Ekaterina Sergeeva placed second in the Gold triathlon.
Nadia Snyman placed fifth out of 10 in the Pre Preliminary freeskate, an improvement on her eighth-place result last year.
“I had fun,” said Snyman, who enjoyed having the support of her fellow figure skaters. “I felt nervous at first but not on the ice. I felt excellent there. Things went good and I landed my jump. I feel more confident.”
While Snyman loved skating at the SOEC, she found it hard because the ice surface is so large. Her minute-and-a-half routine felt longer with all eyes on her.
Meanwhile, Kim Wright, tied for second in the Pre-Intro Interpretive with Anne Lu.
“I was happy,” said Wright. “I double my points from regionals so that was nice.”
Heading into the event, Wright wanted to have her spins to be strong and reach her highest score. Both were achieved.
“It was really intense,” she said of skating in the SOEC. “It was nice because we had friends and old coaches watching. It was just a really good experience.”
Jolene Kellerman competed in her third Ogopogo and placed third in her interpretive and seventh in the freeskate. Kellerman found the Ogopogo competitive because it’s one of the toughest events of the year. She also gained more competitive experience on the weekend performing her interpretive, which will help her for the Pacific Skate championship in March.
Other results for the Glengarry Skating Club had Angelina Veltri place third in the pre-preliminary freeskate and fifth in the interpretive, while Danielle Nemechek placed fifth in the pre-preliminary and it was her first competition. Adrien McKibbon was seventh in the pre-preliminary, while Caroline Rahkola placed first in the pre-preliminary, which the coach said she was happy with.
“It was a great result for her,” he said. “She has been working hard and has skated everyday. She deserved it.”
Sergeev was pleased with how the results turned out for his skaters and gave thanks to everyone who made the weekend a success.
The club had eight new skaters compete for the first time and Sergeev said they did a great job.
On Feb. 25 to 26, the club will have testing. Also, they will have Sergeeva, Amante and Kellerman compete in the Pacific Skate championship on March 4 in Cranbook. They will then have their final show themed Around the World on March 12 at Memorial Arena.