By JULIE CORY
Herald Writer
Sara O’Neal is not unlike many mothers who want their daughters to learn how to roller skate for the occasional school party at a rink.
But when O’Neal took her then 8-year-old daughter Adrienne Erickson to the Lynnwood Roll-A-Way Skate Center, little did she know that would spark a passion in Adrienne.
Adrienne, now 15, has turned that initial excitement into a competitive adventure.
This past August, the Cascade High School sophomore captured first place in the Sophomore Ladies Freestyle competition at the Roller Skating Nationals in Lincoln, Neb.
“I was so excited. It was so great,” Adrienne said of her finish at nationals.
Adrienne, who is a member of the Everett Expressions Artistic Roller Skating Club, earned the berth to nationals after taking first place at the Northwest Regional Championships in Portland, Ore. in June.
The first-place finish guaranteed that Adrienne would be one of the 27 competitors at nationals.
Next up is the Junior World competition in Italy this August, for which Adrienne is attempting to qualify as a member of the United States team.
In the meantime, Adrienne is focused on training.
Just as she has the past two years, Adrienne will be heading to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado in November for a week-long training session.
Although roller skating is not an Olympic event, it is a medal event at the Pan-American Games and the Olympic Training Center offers a program that fits Adrienne’s needs.
“It’s a lot of fun,” said Adrienne. “You get to meet a lot of different people.”
Adrienne takes her sport pretty seriously, training six days a week for about three hours a day.
In the offseason, Adrienne, who maintains a 3.9 GPA, also keeps in shape running track for Cascade. This spring she plans on participating in the 100- and 200-meter events and the 400 relay.
But right now, she’s still riding high on her win at Nationals.
And the best part of winning?
“The crowd standing up and cheering for me when I got my first-place medal,” said Adrienne. “It felt like the Olympics – It was my mini-Olympics.”
????Local National Championship results: Additional local results from the Roller Skating Nationals in Lincoln, Neb.: Ezra Thompson, fifth place, Junior Men Singles; Ezra Thompson/Aleeda Keys, sixth, Sophomore Pairs; Amy DeWilde, sixth, Junior World Class, and eighth, Junior Figures; Dowdy Giles, eighth, IIA Figures, and 14th, IIA Freestyle; Kylee Berger, 10th, IIA Figures and IIA Freestyle; Hannah Mitchell, 10th, IB Figures; Michelle Tri, 11th, Freshman Freestyle; Brianna Williams, 11th, Freshman Figures; Jessica Williams, 12th, Elementary Freestyle, and 15th, Elementary Loops, and 19th, Elementary Figures. Grafton DeKoster, Tiffany Coil and Trevor Coil also qualified for the National Championships, but were unable to attend.
????Avalanche blank Sky River: The Cascade Avalanche U-12 boys soccer team shut out the Sky River Extreme 6-0 on Saturday.
Eclipse net two league wins: The Lake Stevens U-13 Eclipse girls soccer team defeated both the Spokane Shadow and Spokane Flames on September 24 in Spokane. The Eclipse shut out the Flame 3-0, with goals by Amber Fahrney (Jasmine Kettler assist), Amanda Zueger (Amber assist) and Alyssa Isaman (Cassy Jo Osborne assist). Kendra Anyon scored all three Eclipse goals to edge the Shadow 3-2. The Eclipse are now 5-2 in premier league play.
FC Silver Lake Strikers top Sciroccos: The FC Silver Lake Strikers U-12 boys team defeated the Northwest National Sciroccos 4-2 on Sunday, lifting its league record to 5-1. Tyson Rickman had two assists, setting up goals for Jordan Lance and Justin Wilmorth. Eric Miller also knocked in a goal and earned the assist on Kevin Luangrath’s goal.
Undefeated Stealers and United result in tie: The undefeated Stanwood Stealers U-16 girls team tied the undefeated Snohomish United team 1-1 at Port Susan Middle School in Stanwood. United scored the first goal, then Katie Bruscas scored for the Stealers to even the score.
Dusters place second at Spokane tournament: The U-18 Diamond Dusters of Edmonds captured second place in the Gold Division at the College Coaches Exposure Tournament on Sept. 30 in Spokane. The Dusters were led by Everett High School’s Julie Vanek and Meadowdale’s Rachel Mezich, who combined for 40 strikeouts in five games. Offensively the Dusters were led by Suzanne Dorgan and Lara Anderson of Meadowdale and Mountlake Terrace’s Kacee Miller and Rhonda Barnes.
