District skaters shine in Winnipeg

All those complaints about Winnipeg in the winter time are falling on deaf ears—if those ears are connected to the Emo Figure Skating Club or Border Skating Club.
Both achieved standout results at Skate Winnipeg’s Super Skate 2003 last weekend—their first major competition of the season.
Emo’s 11 skaters carted home a whopping 33 medals in the 44 events they competed in. Jenna Cousineau was in prime form, leading the way by finishing first in all four of her events.
Brandy Strachan, Madison Boisvert, and Kelsey Jonassen each took home two golds while other Emo skaters earning a gold medal included Taylor Latimer (who qualified for the provincial championships last season), Sophie Potvin-Bégin, Kennedy Latimer, Kayla Benjamin, and Kalene Krause.
The Border Skating Club, meanwhile, sent seven skaters to the event, who combined for 12 medals—including six golds—overall.
Mike Nelson shone brightest for the Border bunch as he captured gold in all three of his events. Other gold-medalists included Jillian Bobczynski, Jenna Wilson, and Sarah McComb.
Border coach Penny McComb had nothing but praise for her skaters in their first appearance at Super Skate.
“We were interested in finding out what kind of competition it was, and how skaters from some of the other clubs compared to us,” she noted.
“We got them to go to this meet because it will get them working harder sooner in the season, rather than waiting until closer to when we have regionals here at the end of January,” McComb reasoned.
With those regionals fast approaching, the emphasis will be on getting better in a hurry.
“We’re going to add more jumps and spins into their routines,” McComb remarked. “It’s time to learn now just how hard it is to compete at the next level successfully.”
Here are the local individual results from last weekend’s meet:
< *c>Emo Figure Skating Club
•Kayla Benjamin—Pre-preliminary Free Skate (1st), Skating Skills Preliminary (4th), Preliminary Compulsory (4th), Preliminary Spins (7th)
•Madison Boisvert—Skating Skills Pre-preliminary (1st), Pre-preliminary Compulsory (1st), Prre-preliminary Free Skate (3rd), Pre-Preliminary Spins (5th)
•Jenna Cousineau—Junior Bronze Free Skating (1st), Skating Skills Junior Silver (1st), Junior Bronze Compulsory (1st), Junior Bronze Spins (1st)
•Kelsey Jonassen—Pre-preliminary compulsory (1st), Pre-preliminary Spins (1st), Pre-preliminary Free Skate (2nd), Skating Skills Pre-Preliminary (2nd)
•Kalene Krause—Senior Bronze Sectional Spins (1st), Pre-juvenile Sectional Free Skate (2nd), Pre-juvenile sectional compulsory (3rd), Skating Skills Senior Bronze (4th)
•Kendra Krause—Preliminary Free Skate (2nd), Preliminary Spins (2nd), Skating Skills Junior Bronze (3rd), Junior Bronze Compulsory (6th)
•Kennedy Latimer—Pre-preliminary Free Skate (1st), Skating Skills Preliminary (2nd), Preliminary Spins (4th), Preliminary Compulsory (5th)
•Taylor Latimer—Pre-Juvenile Sectional Free Skate (1st), Pre-Juvenile Sectional Compulsory (2nd), Senior Bronze Sectional Spins (2nd), Skating Skills Senior Bronze (3rd)
•Paige McNally—Introductory Free Skate (2nd), Skating Skills Pre-Preliminary (2nd), Introductory Compulsory (2nd), Introductory Spins (3rd)
•Sophie Potvin-Bégin—Introductory Free Skate (1st), Introductory Spins (2nd), Introductory Compulsory (3rd), Skating Skills Pre-preliminary (5th)
•Brandy Strachan—Introductory Free Skate (1st), Introductory Compulsory (1st), Introductory Spins (5th), Skating Skills Pre-Preliminary (6th)
< *c>Border Skating Club
•Jillian Bobczynski—Pre-preliminary Skills (1st), Introductory/Beginner Elements (3rd), Introductory Free Skate (4th)
•Ashlyn Campbell—Pre-preliminary Skills (4th), Introductory Free Skate (5th), Introductory/Beginner Compulsory Elements (5th)
•Kiela Ford—Introductory Free Skate (3rd), Introductory/Beginner Compulsory (4th), Pre-preliminary Skills (7th)
•Alexa Kadikoff—Introductory Free Skate (2nd), Introductory/Beginner Compulsory (3rd)
•Sarah McComb—Open Star Short Program (1st), Silver Interpretive (2nd)
•Mike Nelson—Pre-preliminary free skate (1st), Pre-preliminary compulsory elements (1st), Preliminary skills (1st)
•Jenna Wilson—Introductory Free Skate (1st), Introductory/Beginner Compulsory (2nd), Pre-preliminary skills (4th)