The 38th Annual Empire State Winter Games, held this year in Lake Placid from Thursday, Feb. 1 through Feb. 4, brought athletes from across New York, the Northeast and Canada, as well as a number of the Great Neck Park District’s own, to compete in over 30 winter sports events.
29 solo ice skaters and several synchronized skate team members participated in various events throughout the weekend, earning a variety of prizes.
Solo skaters from Great Neck who participated include Marcel Agredo, Abigail Bernstein, Anna Calamis, Brooke Cenname, Julia Cho, Kristen Cho, Alysa Cummins, Sara Dorish, Kristina Feng, Hannah Bella Ferster, Ava Goykhberg, Allison Hu, Stanley Hu, Faith Kucic, Iris Liang, Selena Lu, Isabella Marino, Arielle Mueller, Leanna Ng, Luna Romero, Tova Shafran, Shirin Soleimany, Carolina Swiatkowska, Stephanie Sze, Kristen Tam, Hailey Wong, Lucy Xiao, Christa Xu and Sienna Yamins.
First place winners for solo skater categories from Great Neck are as follows:
Girls Solo High Beginner: Alysa Cummins , Sara Dorish and Stephanie Sze
Boys Solo High Beginner: Marcel Agredo
Novice 6.0 Free Skate: Brooke Cenname
Intermediate Test Track: Arielle Mueller
Second place winners in solo skater categories from Great Neck are as follows:
No Test: Anna Calamis and Isabella Marino
Third place winners from Great Neck are as follows:
Girls Pre-Preliminary: Allison Hu
Boys Beginner: Stanley Hu
Luna Romero won fourth place in the preliminary category.
Also skating at the event were the synchronized skating teams, the Icicles (Pre-Juvenile) and the Ice Gems (Synchro Skills 1). Although they did not win a medal, they had a great skate and enjoyed being participants in the event.
Ice Gems included Irina Chiang, Krystal Deng, Christa Xu, Rafaella Sarraf, Sienna Yamins, Elaine Su, Aurora Yan, Eva Westbay, Hannah Checo.
Icicles, Pre-Juvenile included Alexa Hizon, Alysa Cummins, Victoria Tjihaja, Iris Liang, Allison Hu, Isabella Marino, Ava Goykhberg, Mali Cooper, Stephanie Sze, and Abigail Bernstein.
Skate Pro/Coach Matthew Thomas, on staff at the Great Neck Park District Skate School, competed in Men’s Speed Skating Short Track event and now plans to continue on to Nationals in that category.
He grew up skating in Syracuse, NY, where he was introduced to skating through the Learn-to-Skate Program. He continued to train as a figure skating competitor and in 1998 he became the Eastern Sectional Champion, before moving on to his current career as a Skating Coach. Matt is also a professional saxophonist, holding a Bachelor’s degree in music from SUNY Buffalo, performing regularly both in NYC and internationally.
