CARSTAIRS - Skyla Grenier of Carstairs will be one of the figure skaters representing Zone 2 at the Alberta Winter Games in Airdrie in February.
Grenier qualified after finishing second at a runoff competition held in Cochrane in December.
"She earned a silver medal there as well as her 'best ever' point score," said Rhonda Grenier, Skyla's mother. "We then had to anxiously wait a week for the runoff results to be posted. She earned the highest points for Star 6 in Zone 2."
With her score in Cochrane, Skyla is in fourth place for all the provincial qualifiers, said Rhonda.
Skyla said the competition at the runoff was quite strong.
"The competition was challenging as a number of competitive skaters 'drop down' in an attempt to qualify," said Skyla.
Skyla, a Grade 9 student at Hugh Sutherland School in Carstairs, is a member of the Carstairs Skating Club as well as the Crossfield Skating Club.
The Alberta Winter Games in Airdrie will be Grenier's first provincial-level competition. She has placed in the top three in the past two years in Lethbridge as a Star 5.
"Cochrane was her first competition as a Star 6," she said. "Skyla loves the jumping part of skating and is always striving to be better at anything she tries."
Skyla races BMX in the summer and is hoping BMX will be added once again to the Alberta Summer Games this year.
"She has been racing provincially since the age of five and nationally since the age of six," said Rhonda. "Currently, she has raced as far away as South Carolina."
Skyla plans to keep figure skating after the Winter Games and has always wanted to go to the Olympics.
Although she doesn't name any heroes, Skyla attributes her success to coaches Andrea St. Cyr and Charlsey Whittemore from the Carstairs Skating Club and Amber Dubitz from the Crossfield Skating Club.
