5 Local Figure Skaters Qualify For National Championships

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Among those qualified for the United States Figure Skating National Championship next month, there are five alumni of Highland Park's Centennial Ice Area, including a team of ice dancing siblings and an Olympic bronze medalist. The national championship event will take place Jan. 2-8, 2018 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California.

The local qualifiers include two dance teams: Saige Chaseley, 10, of Highland Park and her partner, Aidan Bell, of Glencoe, along with the Highland Park brother and sister team of 10-year-old Eliana and 13-year-old Ethan Peal. Jason Brown, the 2017 US National Bronze Medalist and the 2016 Skate America Silver Medalist, will also be competing, as it is an Olympic qualifying year.

Brown is a two-time World Junior medalist, with a silver in 2013 and a bronze in 2012. He is the winner of the 2011 Junior Grand Prix Final and was the 2010 national junior champion. Brown also won a bronze medal in the team event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

The Peals, Chaseley and Bell all competed recently at the U.S. Figure Skating Midwestern Sectionals where they earned spots to compete at the national championship. The Peal siblings, who are the 2017 US Midwestern Intermediate Ice Dance Champions, took first place at the Sectionals.

All five skaters began skating at Centennial Ice Arena in the Learn to Skate program and they will represent the Skokie Valley Skating Club at the competition in San Jose, according to an announcement from the arena.

» via Centennial Ice Arena

_{Top photo Ethan and Eliana Peal (left), Saige Chaseley and Aidan Bell | Courtesy Park District of Highland Park}