Kelowna Skating Club has four skaters qualify for National Championships

The Kelowna Skating Cub showed they could hold their own with the best in the nation last week, as seven local skaters took part in the Skate Canada Challenge event in Edmonton.

The event served as the final qualification round for Novice, Junior, and Senior skaters trying to snag a berth to the Canadian Tire National Championships in Saint John, NB next month. Pre-Novice skaters used the event as their National Championships.

Biggest highlights from the week were from the Junior women's event as two Kelowna skaters qualified for Nationals with top 18 finishes. 15-year-old Emma Bulawka finished second place with an overall score of 138.02 points to clinch a trip to Nationals, while Daria Carr came tenth place to secure her spot. Both Bulawka and Carr have the distinction of being former Canadian Novice silver medalists.

At the Novice level, Vienna Harwood had a strong seventh place short program to catapult her to third overall in the final. She also had the second-best free skate of the event, which included four successful triple jumps. This is her second consecutive time qualifying for Canadians.

Olivia Gran had a very successful debut at the Senior level, becoming the first Kelowna singles skater to qualify for the Senior Canadians in four years. The 15-year-old Okanagan-Mission student finished seventh in the short program and fourth in the free skate to clinch sixth overall.