Shayna Moellenberg, 16, a Community School sophomore, is the new 2011 Northwest Pacific Regional Figure Skating Championships Junior Ladies Free Skate champion.
Competing in Boise Oct. 2-3 against eight of the best Junior Ladies skaters in the six-state region, Moellenberg placed first in Short and Long Programs by a big margin. Her final combined free skate score of 105.08 points was more than 12 points higher than the second-place finisher.
Moellenberg, coached by Lisa-Marie Allen with choreography by Gia Guddat and Joel Dear, qualified for the Pacific Coast Sectional Championships for a second straight year. This year's sectionals take place Nov. 9-13 at Culver City, Ca.
Last year, Moellenberg qualified for sectionals as the Novice Ladies Silver Medalist during the Regional Championships at Medford, Ore.
Moellenberg was one of 16 Sun Valley Figure Skating Club entrants at the Boise regionals—three including Moellenberg in qualifying competition and 13 in non-qualifying events.
Nicole Pratt, 15, and Alexandra Harten, 13, were SVFSC competitors in qualifying at regionals.
Wood River High sophomore Pratt was 11th overall in a challenging field of 18 Novice Ladies. Darlin Baker is coach and choreographer for Pratt.
Community School eighth-grader Harten, entered in her first regionals at the qualifying level, finished 13th in a tough elimination round which split 33 Intermediate Ladies. Holly Wheeler is her coach, with choreography by Guddat.
One gold in non-qualifying
Thirteen other SVFSC skaters competed Oct. 4-5 in the Non-Qualifying events at regional championships. Six came home with medals. They were Blake and Lane Letourneau, Isabella Bourret, Travis Flynt, Emma Stuessi and Samantha Bunting.
Blake Letourneau, a Community School fourth grader, won the gold medal in her Nontest Girls, Group B.
Bourret won the bronze in Pre-Preliminary Girls with Axel, Group C. Flynt took silver in Pre-Preliminary Boys with Axel. Stuessi earned bronze in Pre-Preliminary Girls without Axel, Group A.
Competing at the highest non-qualifying level, Caitlin Scholtis was seventh in Open Juvenile Girls, Group B, one of the larger groups.
Other places: 4—Lane Letourneau and Samantha Bunting, Nontest Girls Groups D and E, respectively. 6—Katie Peters in Nontest, Group D, and Blair Baker in Nontest Girls Group E.
7—Tara Ware in Preliminary Girls, Group B. 8—Arizona Semones in Preliminary Girls, Group C. 9—Alex Stuessi in Nontest, Group C, and Claire Stickney in Nontest, Group E.
Lisa-Marie Allen served as a Technical Specialist for the NWP Regional Championships and Non-Qualifying Competition at regionals.
The youngest SVFSC competitor at the recent Boise regionals was nine-year-old Blake Letourneau. She won the gold in Nontest Girls, Group B. Photo by Willy Cook
