Competitive Skating Centre Of Strathroy News and Events
January 2010
Canadians in London turned out to be an outstanding event by all of our skaters as well as the many talented skaters attending from the other parts of Canada. Every event was well skated, and the CSCS skaters performed extremely well. Beginning the week with Junior Nationals, Margaret and Mike became the Junior Pair Champions of Canada. They are the 3rd Junior Champions to come out of the school and the first in the pair event. Cassandra had a great competition and placed 10th in her very first National Championship. Mike also competed in the Junior Men event and placed 12th overall with a very good short and long program.
In the Senior event field Diane finished in 4th place with two very good programs, which earned her a spot on the Four Continents Team travelling to Korea in late January. McKenzie finished 17th in a very competitive event, that required great performance just to qualify to participate. Kaleigh and Adam performed extremely well in their first Canadian Championships as a pair team and finished 7th, proving that they are a very talented up and coming young team.
Kaleigh and Adam as well as Margaret and Mike will be members of the Junior World Team which competes in the Netherlands in March.
December 2009
December was another busy month that started with Kaleigh and Adam finishing 5th at the Jr. Grand Prix Final, in Tokyo, Japan. With a Gold medal win and another bronze medal at other Grand Prix events , they qualified for the final event. This is an outstanding accomplishment, especially after only 8 months together.
Challenge in Mississauga was another successful event, with 8 out of 9 skaters qualifying for nationals. Again, the pair team of Kaleigh and Adam were granted a bye, as they were away at the Jr. Grand Prix Final. Diane also received a bye to Canadians. Other skaters that qualified for the Canadian Championships were McKenzie (Sr. Women), Mike, (Jr. Men), Margaret and Mike, (Jr. Pair), and Cassandra, (Novice Women).
The school also donated $500 to the food bank, with the money being raised based on the number of jumps that the skaters completed in a 1 hour time frame. A big thank you goes to Gary Fillier of Trans Global Services, for donating an additional $200 after he heard about the event and its cause.
November 2009
November started off on a high note, with Diane traveling to China for her first Senior Grand Prix event. She skated a clean long program, earning over 100 points in the long program alone, which is a first for the school. She finished a fantastic 4th in the long, and 8th overall.
Rounding out the month, Sectionals in Sarnia was a huge success with 8 skaters qualifying for the Challenge events. Kaleigh and Adam received a bye for the Sr. pair event, as well as Diane for Sr. women. McKenzie earned a silver medal in Sr. Women, Margaret and Mike earned a 3rd place finish in Jr. Pair, and Mike also won the Jr. Men’s event. Zoey earned a 2nd place finish in Jr. Women, and Margaret earned a silver medal in Novice Women, with a 1st place finish going to Cassandra.
Other results from sectionals include Miranda finishing a strong 7th place in Jr. Women. Amanda placed 12th, and Meagan 15th in Pre- Novice, and Hope won a bronze medal in Pre-Juvenile. Congratulations to all the skaters for their accomplishments!
October 2009
October began with Cassandra McDonnell heading to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan over the Thanksgiving long weekend to represent Western Ontario in Sask Skate. Cassandra competed in the Novice ladies event, and placed 6th in a field of 24 skaters. On the following weekend, all of our singles skaters traveled to Barrie Ontario for the Octoberfest Competition as the final tuneup for Sectionals which will be held in November. Everyone learned what they need to improve on for the upcoming qualifying events, and continue to train to maximize their performances.
Another first for CSCS and Diane Szmiett, as she is traveling to Beijing China for the Cup of China Senior Grand Prix event. Diane is a veteran of the Junior Grand Prix circuit, but she has been selected by the ISU to compete on the Senior circuit for the first time in her career. This event makes 5 International events in less than 2 months, plus a trip to Saskatoon and an event in Barrie. This has been the most active Fall in the schools history.
September 2009
What a September CSCS had on the International scene. Kaleigh Hole and Adam Johnson competed in their first Junior Grand Prix event as a team in Lake Placid and they came home with the Gold medal. They followed that event with their second Junior Grand Prix in Minsk Belarus where they won the bronze medal. The two events qualified them for the Junior Grand Prix Final which will be held in Tokyo Japan in early December. Margaret Purdy and Mike Marinaro began their International careers with Junior Grand Prix events in Torun Poland and Dresdan Germany. They finished 7th in Poland and 10th in Germany and completed a very active and exciting month for the school. The rest of the school was busy training for their upcoming events in October, and of course getting used to the new training schedule which includes school after a hard working summer.
Junior grand prix pair assignments:
Kaleigh Hole and Adam Johnson will represent Canada in Lake Placid, New York , September 2-6. They will also compete in Minsk, Belarus.(Belarus - 3rd)
**QUICK UPDATE -KALEIGH AND ADAM WON LAKE PLACID EVENT!!!*** Photo below (left to right) Stolbova/Klimor RUS(silver), HOLE/JOHNSON-CAN(gold), Takahashi/Tran JPN(bronze)
©photo by Dave Carmichael
Michael Marinaro and Margaret Purdy will represent Canada in Toran, Poland, September 9-13. **QUICK UPDATE - Mike and Margaret finished a strong 7th in their first ever Junior Grand Prix event** They will also compete in Dresden, Germany. (Germany - 10th)
July/August 2009 (Midsummer)
The summer is half over, and we have already skated in two summer events. Skaters from CSCS travelled to Detroit for Skate Detroit, where we competed in the Novice to Senior singles events. It was our first event of the year, and the skaters all did a respectable job in a very competitive event. Attending the event were Diane Szmiett (short program only), Mike Marinaro, Kaleigh Hole, Miranda Popen, Zoey Brown and Cassandra McDonnell. One of our pair teams, Kaleigh Hole and Adam Johnson, travelled to Indianapolis for the Pair Indy Challenge. It was their first event together, and they skated in the Senior category. The event was a very good pair event, as it brought together over 72 pair teams from around North America in all categories. If you have been to summer competitions in the past, it is lucky to see 3-4 teams in any event. Our next event will be Summer Sizzle held in Kitchener Ontario August 7-9, 2009.
The International news for CSCS is very good this year, with Diane Szmiett being selected by the ISU to represent Canada in the Grand Prix series this year. The ISU selects these skaters and there is a very limited number who are allowed to compete. Diane will be travelling to China for her first event.
Since the Indy Challenge, both our pair teams have been selected to represent Canada on the Junior Grand Prix Series. Kaleigh Hole and Adam Johnson, and Margaret Purdy and Mike Marinaro will be attending events. At this time we are still unaware of the location of events they will be skating in. We will keep you updated as we find out the other destinations and any other selections.
May/June 2009
The new season for the competitive skaters of CSCS began by traveling to the University of Western Ontario and skating in the Thompson Arena which is situated on the campus. We trained in that facility for a week before returning to Strathroy and the Gemini Sportsplex, our home for the rest of the Spring and Summer. The skaters are back to basics at this time of year, learning their new competition programs choreographed by Alison. The only significant news at this point in the year is the assignment to the Cup of China for Diane Szmiett. This is Diane's first Senior Grand Prix assignment of her career. Diane also participated in her first National Team Weekend, which was held in late May in Toronto. All skaters are working very hard on their technique, fitness levels, and programs as they begin their competitive year with the first competition scheduled for late July.
March 2009 (Gearing up for showtime)
March is the start of our annual ice show practices. The month is dedicated to preparing for the show on April 3rd and 4th. The school is doing a guest performance at the Lucan Skating Club show at the end of the month. In a surprise event, Cassandra McDonnell was asked to represent Western Ontario Section at the Trillium Cup held in Kitchener on March 15th. Cassandra was the alternate for this event, and she was given 2 days notice that she would be participating. She skated both the short and long program on the same day, and finished 4th overall in the event. Many of the skaters are also preparing to do guest performances for skating clubs in our area over the rest of the month. See our show page for details and come out and join the excitement!
February 2009
February was another exciting month with Jr Nationals in Calgary and the ISU Junior World Championships in Sofia Bulgaria. Margaret Purdy and Michael Marinaro attended the Jr Nationals in Calgary as the representatives of CSCS. They competed in the Novice Pair event where they earned a Bronze Medal for their performances. Diane Szmiett traveled to Sofia Bulgaria where she participated in the Junior World Championships. The event was very well skated with many worldwide, top country representative skaters under the age of 19 participating. Diane finished 13th overall out of a field of 54. The caliber of the event was outstanding in all disciplines and it was a tremendous learning experience.
January 2009
January was a month for the Canadian Championships held in Saskatoon Sask. CSCS had 7 skaters participating in this year’s event. Diane Szmiett continued her breakthrough season with a 4th place finish in the Senior Women event. Diane earned a spot on Canada’s National team, a first for the school, as well a berth on the Junior World Team heading for Sofia Bulgaria in February. McKenzie Crawford also competed in the Senior Women event and placed 16th in her first year at this level. McKenzie who is 16 years old, was the youngest competitor in the event. Taylor Steele and Chris Richardson, along with Christi Steele and Adam Johnson competed in the Senior Pair event. Steele and Richardson were 8th, while Steele and Johnson were 9th. Both teams had very good performances and competed at a high level. Michael Marinaro was our only Junior skater at the Canadian Championships this year and he placed 7th in the Junior Men’s event. Michael had two terrific performances during the event. Overall the events were very well skated, and CSCS was well represented again this year.
Some of our younger skaters entered an event close to home in St Thomas at the Dennis Silverthorne Memorial Competition on the last weekend of the month. CSCS was represented by Tianna Beharriell, Cassandra McDonnell and Kendra Routley in the Novice Women event and Hope McLean moved up to participate in the Juvenile event. Meg Hodgins made her season debut in Sr Bronze Starskate, and Julia Rachuk and Ashleigh Sutherland made their competition debuts in Pre- Preliminary Women. The skaters had a great time at this event, and the results were very positive for everyone.
December 2008
December was a very busy month at CSCS with a number of events taking place. We began the month with the Skate Canada Challenge events which were once again held in Mississauga Ontario. CSCS qualified 8 skaters from this event to the Canadian and Jr National Championships. Qualifying in Senior Women were Diane Szmiett and McKenzie Crawford, Senior Pair were Taylor Steele, Chris Richardson, Christi Steele and Adam Johnson, Junior Men was Michael Marinaro, and Novice Pair was Margaret Purdy and Michael Marinaro. Margaret Purdy in Pre Novice Women and Alistair Sylvester in Novice Men attended the event, but didn’t qualify for any further events. Diane Szmiett qualified for and attended the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final held in Soeul, South Korea. Diane is the first skater from the school to earn a spot at this event which takes only the top 8 competitors from the Junior Grand Prix Series. On top of these events, the school held a Charity Christmas Ice Show with proceeds going toward our local food bank. The show raised $500 and a truck load of food which again was all donated to the food bank.
November 2008
CSCS SKATER ADVANCES TO JUNIOR GRAND PRIX FINAL
First of all, congratulations to Diane Szmiett who advances to the Junior Grand Prix final in Goyang City, Republic of Korea which takes place on Dec. 10-14.
Western Ontario Sectionals were a great success this year for the following skaters who will be advancing to the Western Challenge event in Mississauga on Dec 3-7th.
McKenzie Crawford was 1st in Senior Women and Diane Szmiett was second (Diane automatically advances to Canadians due to her placement on the Grand Prix circuit)
Taylor Steele and Chris Richardson were 1st in Senior Pairs and Adam Johnson and Christi Steele were 3rd.
Michael Marinaro was 2nd in Junior Men.
Michael Marinaro and Margaret Purdy were 1st in Novice Pairs.
Alistair Sylvester was 2nd in Novice Men.
Margaret Purdy was 4th in Pre-Novice Women.
Congratulations to all skaters for their achievements at the Western Ontario sectionals. All other skater's results will be posted on the results page.
October 2008
Diane Szmiett does it again with a silver medal for Canada while McKenzie Crawford skates to an impressive 12th place finish on the International Junior Grand Prix Circuit in Capetown, South Africa.
(Story from Skate Canada)
TWO TOP TEN INTERNATIONAL FINISHES FOR CSCS SKATERS
McKenzie Crawford represented Canada well at her first ISU Junior Grand Prix International assignment in Ostrava and placed 10th in Junior Women! Mckenzie will now go along with Diane to Capetown, South Africa (Oct 8-12)for another ISU Junior Grand Prix assignment.(Story from Skate Canada)
All other CSCS skaters were busy in training in September and competed in Hamilton, Ontario at the Isabelle Henderson Memorial check out all their results on the results page.
September 2008
Diane Szmiett captured Bronze in International competition in Courcheval, France at an ISU Junior Grand Prix event. Congratulations Diane, we're very proud of you! (Story at Skate Canada website.) Diane also has another International Grand Prix Assignment to Capetown, South Africa (Oct 8-12). Best of luck to Diane from everyone at CSCS
We also have other skaters who have worked very hard and have earned International Assignments.
McKenzie Crawford has been given an ISU Junior Grand Prix Assignment (ladies) to Ostrava, Czech Republic (Sept 17-21)
Christi Anne Steele and Adam Johnson have been given an ISU Junior Grand Prix Assignment (pairs) to Ostrava, Czech Republic (Sept 17-21)
The Following skaters have also been assigned to represent Western Ontario Section in Saskatoon at the Sask Skate Invitational in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Alistair Sylvester will compete for Western Ontario in Novice Men and Cassandra McDonnell will compete for Western Ontario in Pre-Novice Ladies.
Good Luck to our skaters on their assignments.
Competitive Skating Centre of Strathroy 2008, All rights reserved.