Six medals, including three gold, were earned by members of the Glengarry Figure Skating Club during the Okanagan Interclub competition in Winfield Nov. 29 to Dec.1.
Nadia Snyman, Jordana McEachern and Isabelle Tuckwood performed gold-medal winning performances. Snyman won the Star5 under-13 ladies event, earning a personal best score of 17.10 points. McEachern won the Introductory Interpretive, her first competition this season, by scoring 27.08 points, while Tuckwood secured gold in the junior silver solo dance by scoring 15.72 points in her first competition.
Coach Trevor Buttenham liked that his skaters were composed during the competition after tweaking a few things during practice.
“By the time you get to competition, the homework is done,” said Buttenham. “If you’re not ready, you’re not ready.”
McEachern also earned silver in the Star5 under-13 ladies with a personal best score of 15.58 points. Bronze medals were earned by Meagan Pankratz in the senior bronze ladies and Snyman in the Introductory Interpretive. She scored 23.86 points in her first competition.
Buttenham is happy with the progress shown by his skaters. His focus has been on teaching them how to compete.
“You can plan on how to make it better, know how your body reacts,” he said. “Are you a nervous person? Do you sweat? Do you get locked knees? Are you a sick to your stomach kind of person?”
McEachern was happy with her performance and said the other competitors were good.
“I have never gotten a first-place before,” said McEachern, who admitted feeling nerves. “I wanted to improve my scores from last time.”
Pankratz was familiar with her competitors and because of that, it made for a fun competition. Pankratz, 15, didn’t feel pressure since she has years of competition experience behind her. Pankratz was looking to improve her scores and land most of her jumps.
When asked about her competition, Pankratz said they were good, but said she didn’t watch most of them.
“I don’t usually watch them,” said Pankratz. “Sometimes it makes me more nervous.”
Pankratz said she’s improved and credits that to Buttenham’s coaching.
“I think he explains things a lot more,” she said.
McEachern also likes Buttenham’s coaching as he is specific with what he wants to get across.
With the skaters who medalled, Buttenham said they performed really well. He said it was “awesome” to have Snyman and McEachern finish back-to-back in the Star5.
“Nadia skated clean again,” he said. “Again an improvement in the score. That is always what we are looking for.”
Buttenham said Tuckwood performed well in the silver dance. She skated against a competitor a level above her. She was bumped down because both girls wouldn’t have had anyone to skate against. Placing first, Buttenham said, was completely unexpected.
In the Star2 ladies, Samantha MacNally and Kaylee Fortunato had personal best skates to earn a gold assessment. Joycey Cheng did the same to earn silver assessment, while Sara and Amy Slater earned silver assessment’s in their first competition.
In Star4 ladies, Angelina Veltri finished fourth, while Tuckwood was fifth. In Star5 for 13 and over, Sabrina and Patricia Fortunato finished seventh and 10th, respectively. Sabrina was bumped up a level. Veltri and Tuckwood also competed in the Introductory Interpretive and finished seventh and ninth, respectively.
Club notes: To help celebrate the club’s 60th anniversary, they are holding their annual Skate-a-Thon Dec. 14 from 10:45 a.m. until 11:45 am. All past Glengarry alumni are invited to come and share their stories. For more information, contact the Glengarry Skating Club at 250-486-0244.