By Bruce Campbell
Staff Reporter
The Okotoks Figure Skating club blew into Lethbridge earlier this month like a Chinook — their skaters heated things up with their strong performances.
The club sent 28 skaters to the Chinook Open in Lethbridge April 6-7 and they came home with an impressive medal haul.
“We did outstanding,” said Okotoks figure skating coach Kerri Roberts. “Several of our skaters came home with more than one medal.”
In fact, the skaters came home with a treasure chest full of 58 medals including Talia Sargent who came home with a gold medal in the Senior bronze freeskate.
“I had a clean skate and it was one of my personal bests,” said Sargent, a student at John Paul II Collegiate in Okotoks. “I felt I skated my program very fast and speed was something I have been working on.”
However, if speed were what counted, Catriona Le May Doan would have won figure skating gold medals. For Sargent it was about landing her jumps.
“I was really pleased that I had a clean skate,” she said of her performance which was skated to a piece from The Princess Bride.
A skater with a rodeo name made a great impression with the judges in Lethbridge.
Hannah Vold, a Grade 10 student at Holy Trinity Academy in Okotoks, won three silver medals in Bronze Interpretive in Lethbridge.
“I was really pleased with my skate — it was really great to finish off my year that way,” said Vold, who is related to the famed rodeo stock family.
Vold’s interpretation of her musical piece came with attitude.
“I had a lot of fun with my program,” she said. “My music was a really sassy piece — it was called That Man. My skate had a lot of attitude and it was really fun to skate.”
The interpretive competition is just that — a skater puts his or her own spin on a piece of music.
She said she preferred interpretive to freeskate because dancing and having fun with the music is more her forte.
Kobe Anderson brought home two silver medals from Lethbridge. In doing so he proved that he is a team player.
The 12-year-old Anderson won a pair of gold medals in the team competition in which four skaters perform one element each.
Anderson contributed a sit and spin to the winning effort.
He said he enjoys the individual aspect of the sport and plans to step up and perform in the freeskate competition in the future.
The Okotoks Figure Skating Club ended its season on April 16 with testing at the Pason Centennial Arena.
It will begin its summer session at the Piper Arena in July.
Registration for the summer sessions can be done on-line at the www.okotoksskatingclub.com
