Kelowna skaters Olivia Gran and Rochelle Reeve could soon be making plans for a return trip to Prince George.
They moved one step closer to qualifying for the 2015 Canada Winter Games after claiming the two top spots in the women's pre-novice division Saturday at the B.C./Yukon section figure skating championships at Kin 1.
Gran blew the doors off the competition, finishing first with 105.88 points, 19.27 ahead of second-place Reeve, who was fourth in the short program. Reeve totaled 86.61, a half-point ahead of bronze medalist Danica Vansgaard of Richmond, who had 86.52.
Prince George skaters Emma Bajestani and Mary Chidiac, who compete for the Northern BC Centre for Skating, finished 40th and 43rd respectively. Bajestani posted a total of 44.26 while Chidiac finished with 35.06.
In other results, Benjamin Papp of Coquitlam won gold in the novice men's division, topping a five-skater field with 90.61 points, narrowly edging second-place Brian Le of Burnaby, who had 90.55, and third-place Veniamins Volskis of Burnaby, who had a 89.02 total.
The novice women's title went to Mckenna Colthorp of Kelowna Figure Skating Club who earned 105.60 points. She collected 67.79 points in the free program, but won the short program with a total of 37.81 points.
Rachel Pettitt of Arctic Edge of Whitehorse won the silver medal with an overall total of 104.47 points. She had the best free program of the day with 69.31 points.
Elvie Carroll of Connaught (Richmond) won the bronze medal with a total of 101.39 points.
In junior women, Kelsey Wong of Burnaby won the title in the nine-skater field with a total of 126.97 points, followed by Cailey England with the silver medal with 122.23 points. Megan Yim of Kitsilano (Vancouver) won the bronze medal with 116.38 points.
Samara Thew of the Prince George Skating Club finished ninth with a total of 57.53 points.
Julianne Delaurier of Kelowna won the senior women's title with a total of 127.51 points, narrowly edging clubmate Jayda Jurome who earned the silver medal with 125.22 points.
Larissa Horobec of Coquitlam won the bronze medal with 100.03 points.
Mitchell Gordon of Connaught won the senior men's title in the two-athlete field with 177.79 points.
Kurtis Hori of North Delta's Sungod Figure Skating Club won the silver medal with 132.39 points.
Tessa Jones and Matthew den Boer of Victoria teamed up to win the novice pairs event, finishing with 78.41 points, ahead of their Racquet of Victoria clubmates Sarah Kedves and Lucas Pallard, (55.42).
Alexander Lawrence of Vancouver won the junior men's competition with 135.75 points, while Shawn Cuevas of Richmond was second (131.16). Kelly Basisity of Kelowna (113.52) claimed bronze.
Burnaby Figure Skating Club members swept the medals in the juvenile women's under-14 class. Angela Chen captured gold (35.56), Lititia Chen won silver (34.83) and Victoria Verrelli claimed bronze (32.95). In Prince George results, Olivia Trampuh was 20th (23.61), Myah Milner was 21st (23.59) and Olivia Wankling placed 23rd (a personal-best 22.62). All three are with the the Northern BC Centre for Skating.
Christopher Fan of Burnaby won the juvenile men's competition (28.18), followed by Shuma Mugli of Burnaby (26.41), Wilson Leung of Richmond (24.58) and fourth-place Reese Johnson of Prince George (12.01), a member of the Northern BC Centre for Skating.
Leah Lee of Vancouver won the juvenile women's under-11 class (38.00), followed by Emily Ni of Richmond (34.19) and Ashley Sales of Kelowna (31.71).
The top two-ranked skaters (male and female) in each of the pre-novice and novice divisions following national competitions in December and January will represent B.C. at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George, Feb. 13-March 1.
The Northern BC Centre for Skating had 10 skaters entered in the four-day section competition and one of them, Justin Hampole, made it to the medal podium, winning pre-novice men's bronze (see other story).
"The talent across the board right from pre-juvenile up is fierce and we had some great skates," said Northern BC Centre for Skating coach Andrea Ludditt. "We had some roller-coaster moments, some ups and downs from kids who had never experienced an event this big, where the nerves were more prevalent than normal but some of them rose to the occasion of skating in their home city and we're proud of all our athletes. The experience of training to the level they have for the last while can only make them better."
