The Steamboat Skating Club sent six skaters to the 2025 Excel National Festival over the weekend with a number of standout performances including two group champions. 

The festival was held at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs with nearly 1,000 of the top skaters from across the country competing. 

All six Steamboat skaters competed in the open-invitation category, available to skaters at the Aspire through Preliminary levels. Higher-level skaters, typically distinguished by those who compete an axel in their program, had to qualify through performance in competitions. Regardless of level, all skaters had to compete in a minimum of two competitions in the Excel series earlier this season.

“All six Steamboat athletes delivered confident performances on the national stage,” said club coach Rachel McCormick. Other coaches include Cheryl Fullerton, Courtney Gill and Dana Tracy.

2025 Excel National Festival Results:
• Shealyn O’Connor — 3rd place in Excel Preliminary
• Elsie Miller — 5th place in Excel Preliminary
• Felicity Charoenying — 1st place in Aspire 1
• Nora Gould — 5th place in Aspire 1
• Olivia Roesink — 1st place in Aspire 2
• Hadley Hoffman — 7th place in Aspire 2

Club skaters have been working on their same programs for nearly a year. They practice their two-minute programs multiple times per week as the club works on both expanding and refining its skaters’ skills.

Steamboat Skating Club members will perform their programs this weekend at the Howelsen Ice Arena during the 46th annual Vail Invitational Figure Skating Championships. Vail’s Dobson Ice Arena is undergoing renovations, spurring the event’s one-time move to Steamboat Springs.

The competition will feature skaters from the beginning Snowplow Sam level all the way up to Excel Seniors.

The event runs 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and Saturday with 30 skaters from the Steamboat Skating Club competing in 44 events. Families and community members are invited to check out the action at the ice arena for any part of the two-day event.

“We have never hosted a competition here, so it also gets our toes wet,” McCormick said. “Is this something we want to explore for Steamboat, to have our own competition in the future?”

For more information on the Steamboat Skating Club, visit SteamboatSkatingClub.org/.