Local figure skaters to compete at US Collegiate Figure Skating Championships

The US Collegiate Figure Skating Championships are open to athletes who have achieved the junior or senior level in figure skating. There are eight competitive levels, and junior and senior are the seventh and eighth. These skaters train independently while going to college and the majority of them have been skating at least 10-12 years.

Five local skaters will be heading to the US Figure Skating Collegiate Championships. Past event winners include Alissa Czisny, Nancy Kerrigan and Ryan Bradley.

The competition is held every summer and is the only figure skating event in the country open solely to high level, full time college students. To qualify for the U.S. Collegiate Championships, a skater must be
1) a current U.S. Figure Skating member and high school graduate who is enrolled full time in a college or university degree program,
2) a recent graduate of an accredited institution or
3) entering a college or university as a first-year student for the upcoming academic semester. Some skaters come from colleges who have varsity figure skating teams, while others may be the lone figure skater representing his or her institution.

The following skaters come from the Columbus area:

Paige Hamilton, Cyara Hotopp, Kelly Kielian, and Amy Manning will be competing at the Senior Level. Sarah Lawson will compete in the Junior Division. Paige, Kelly and Sarah are members of the Columbus Figure Skating Club.

Paige Hamilton will represent Salem College in Winston-Salem, NC. Paige is an incoming freshman at Salem where she will be on the soccer team. She placed second at the 2010 Eastern Great Lake Regional competition to Chelsea Morrow, who was last year's Senior Ladies Collegiate Champion. Paige also placed 12th at the 2010 Midwestern Sectional Championships.

Kelly Kielian will represent Columbus State Community College where she will be a junior. Kelly moved up this year to the senior level. She competed last year at the junior level where she placed 8th. She was also involved in a professional ice show in New York.

Sarah Lawson will represent The Ohio State University. This is Sarah's first year to compete in Collegiate Championships.

Amy Manning will also represent The Ohio State University. This is Amy's third year to compete in Collegiate Championships

Cyara Hotopp will represent Otterbein University where she is a Sophomore. She competed at Collegiate Nationals last year in the short program where she placed 12th. Cyara has been in Michigan for the last couple of year competing for the Detroit Figure Skating Club.