Polet finishes season gold and silver

Times Reporter   

 

For the Pre-Novice Black Gold Synchronized skating team’s last two competitions of the year, they ended with silver in Leduc on March 9, and gold on March 2 in Coquitlam, B.C. at the West Coast Challenge. Seventeen-year-old Breanna Polet from Strathmore was ecstatic for a first place finish – the club’s only gold on the season.

“I feel like we finally earned it,” Polet said of herself and twelve teammates, who were finishing every competition they entered with silver medals. “Though we had good skates in all our other competitions.”

The gold medal, Polet said, was a result of good timing between the group.

“We just really concentrated on expression, and then being able to set our elements up properly – coming out of the element and making it easier to set up the second after it,” she said.

Those elements included an intersection (forming a triangle, intersecting, and then forming back to a triangle), and a no-hold block (creating four lines and staying aligned from all angles to make your way across the ice without holding each other).

“I felt good about it,” Polet said. “It was one of our better skates.”

The Black Gold’s final score was 40.8; their first skate score was cut in half, while their second skate score counted in full. Their scores then combined for a final tally.

As for the Leduc team, Polet knew it would be tricky for her squad to place first again.

“They’re like our main competition,” she said. “We’re always really close in points.”

This is the end of Black Gold’s competitive season, but they will be participating in regular practices and exhibition shows – March 16 in Didsbury, March 23 in Carstairs, and April 6 in Okotoks. Tryouts for next season begin May 6; for more information visit blackgoldsynchro.com.