Skater’s season ends on high

JACQUELINE LENIUK had an up and down figure skating season. Or maybe down and up is more appropriate.

Though slowed by her first major injury and adjusting to a sizeable growth spurt, Jacqueline finished the season accomplishing something no Terrace skater has ever done.

Jacqueline, a 15-year-old student at Caledonia Secondary, is the first-ever Terrace skater to pass her test to be able to compete as a Senior.

In order to gain the Senior ranking, a skater must pass a test in front of a high judge and complete at least a double axel and one triple.

“Normally, I go for two to three triples but I played it safe and landed clean,” she said of a double axel and triple salchow she nailed during her test in Kitimat in late February.

The seed had been sewn for her breakthrough last summer, when for the first time she started consistently landing triples: triple toe, triple loop and triple flips.

Jumping, says Jacqueline, is her strength.

“My jumps are higher than most competitors and I’m good at rotating quickly,” she said.

“I really like the thrill of flying through the air and falling’s just as much fun,” Jacqueline said. “You never get better if you’re afraid to fall. You have to go for it.”

Those words make mom Sandra both cringe and laugh. Sandra was videotaping her eldest daughter when she decided to land what only one woman in figure skating history has landed in competition – a quad.

“I was having problems overrotating my triple sal, so I decided to go for it,” grinned Jacqueline. “Some of them were pretty scary. I fell differently on every one of them.”

All that jumping – and a new pair of skates – may have helped to flare up an old heel problem she’s battled in the past.

That problem was resolved in October and Jacqueline skated later that month at the Autumn Leaves competition in Kamloops. She came in 6th in the Novice Ladies short program and 2nd in the long program to finish 3rd overall.

She took that momentum into the BC/Yukon sectional competition (also in Kamloops) in November to place 8th out 26 skaters in the Novice Ladies category on the strength of a 13th place in the short and 3rd in the long program.

The result landed her on the provincial development team for the fourth time.

However, her competitive season was effectively done just two weeks later when she tore one of her hamstring muscles. She was able to stay on her skates but she couldn’t push herself.

While on the shelf, her doctor said she grew two inches in two months, outgrowing her new skates.

Growth spurts can be bad news in skating, as skaters often have trouble adjusting to a new frame.

“The concern is when they have a growth spurt, will they lose it?” said Sandra, pointing to 2004 Canadian women’s champion Cynthia Phaneuf, who struggled mightily to regain her form after a spurt of her own.

Jacqueline, who is off skates until early July, is confident she’ll make the necessary adjustments.

“All my jumps are bigger now,” she said, focusing on the positives. “I just need to learn to control them.”

She says she needs to improve her flexibility and her spinning – making them harder and more varied for next season.

In July, she and younger sister Julianne will be back for an eighth straight year for pre-season training with esteemed coaches Larry and Leslee Rushton in Parksville, Vancouver Island.

Jacqueline has high hopes for 2008-09. She wants to start landing all her triples with consistency. She feels if she can do that, she’ll be in the running for a spot in the western and even national championships.

Whether she competes as a Junior or a Senior next season is still to be determined.

For the time being, she’s concentrating on trying to ace her courses and her track and field pursuits.

There’s a theme here – jumping. Jacqueline does the high jump, long jump, triple jump and hurdles.

This year, she also started taking courses to become a figure skating judge and next year, she can start judging some lower events.

“Ultimately, I want to do well enough at nationals to get a couple of international assignments and then judge after that,” said Jacqueline, who lists Shizuka Arakawa, the Japanese 2006 Olympic gold medallist, as her favourite skater.

Of note, Jacqueline’s longtime Terrace coach Barb Kubik has retired after a decade of coaching, so she’s without a local coach prior to next season.

The Terrace Skating club held its annual awards banquet and dinner May 4.

Its four skating coaches and board of directors were thanked for their dedication to the club.

In addition, of course, were the awards for the skaters themselves. See page B9 for a list of the award winners for the 2007-08 season.