The Nelson Skating Club will send three athletes to the B.C. Winter Games after earning 10 medals at the West Kootenay Invitational last weekend in Nelson.
Kailee Stewart, Aili Brackett and Taylor Singer each qualified for the Games in Vernon next March, and will receive bursaries from Skate Canada to attend.
Stewart won gold in the STAR 6 Women category, while Brackett followed with a silver. Brackett also won silver in STAR 9 Artistic. Singer meanwhile was first after the short program in Pre-Novice Women but withdrew with an injury.
Nelson had 21 skaters on the ice. Clubs from across the Kootenays including Fernie, Sparwood, Cranbrook, Kimberley, Castlegar, Beaver Valley, and Creston took part in the event.
Nelson swept the podium in Adult Open Interpretive. Julie Poetsch finished first ahead of silver medalist Jen McNutt and club coach Sarah Gower. McNutt also earned bronze in STAR 10 Gold Solo Dance.
Other medal results included:
Makayla Pickering won gold in Showcase 3, while teammate Paige Vince followed with a silver. Pickering also finished first in Gold Artistic.
Jordan Singer took bronze in STAR 10 Women, while Tiia Brackett won bronze in the STAR 6/7 Solo Dance.
Alexis Vongkeo earned the only silver rating at the competition in STAR 2 Free Skate, which also featured a bronze rating for Kara Westerhaug.
Bronze ratings were also handed out in the STAR 3 Free Skate to Vienna Ferguson, Paisley Jarvis, Raisa Nazaroff, Nikita Bouwmeester, Elizabeth Robbins and Hailey Robbins.
