Hyatt places seventh at all-Ontarios

Brande Hyatt went into last weekend’s all-Ontario figure skating competition with the goal of finishing in the middle of the pack against the province’s top skaters.
And the 12-year-old from Devlin did exactly that, skating a near flawless performance en route to a seventh-place finish in Gravenhurst against 11 other skaters.
Hyatt, who moved to Rainy River District from Marathon, skates with both the Emo and Border Figure Skating Clubs. She was accompanied to the provincials by coach Tereena Searson, who said Hyatt accomplished exactly what she set out to do.
“She had one of the few clean skates,” Searson noted Monday morning. “In her solo, for the first time in a competition, she completed both double salchows cleanly.”
Searson said the competition was a step higher than that at the Northern Ontario Sectionals last month in Terrace Bay, where Hyatt finished second in the preliminary ladies’ division.
Still, she said Hyatt continued to display good speed on the ice and had very strong spins, which were “neat and tidy” and well-positioned. That, and the fact Hyatt skated a near error-free performance, led to her seventh place finish overall.
But Searson admitted Hyatt would have to work on implementing more double salchows in her performance to raise her marks at the technical level. That would move her into the upper echelon of the competition.
“Compared to the other skaters, they had a few more [double salchows],” Searson said, adding they will be working on implementing that into her program in the future.
In other figure skating news, 15 skaters from the Border Figure Skating Club picked up 18 medals at the Thunder Bay Open last month in Thunder Bay.
Hyatt led the way, winning gold medals in both the preliminary spin and preliminary singles events while also earning gold as part of the pre-juvenile team, which included Tricia Kostiuk, Noreen Hartlin, and Kim Fairhurst.
Hyatt also picked up a bronze medal in the pre-bronze artistic event while Hartlin earned a bronze in the pre-juvenile spin.
In the pre-preliminary singles event, Katie Basaraba and Tracey DeAmicis each won gold medals while Julia Florek and Christina Romaniuk earned silver medals.
Jenna Rae Cousineau won a bronze medal.
The intermediate interpretative competition saw Cousineau win the gold and Miranda Miller the silver medal. Basaraba and DeAmicis each picked up bronze medals while Sarah Osmar Hartlin placed fourth.