California is a speed skating hotbed
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Three speed skaters from Southern California were selected to the 2009 U.S. World team, and those three, plus Maria Garcia of Carson, were chosen for the 2009 U.S. World Cup team. The announcements were made following competition last weekend at the U.S. short track speed skating championships in St. Louis.
All are affiliated with Southern California Speed Skating, a very active and successful program that gets kids involved in the sport. Among its most notable products is Rusty Smith of Sunset Beach, a 2002 Olympic bronze medalist in the 500 meters and 2006 bronze medalist in the 5,000-meter relay.
JR Celski, a Lakewood High graduate; Jeff Simon of Lakewood and Jordan Malone of Long Beach made the U.S. World Team. Those three skaters and Garcia -- a 2006 Olympian -- made the World Cup team. Celski, Simon and Malone finished 2-3-4 in the men’s competition, while Garcia was sixth overall among the women.
The next two World Cup events are in Bulgaria and Germany in early February. The World Championships will take place March 6-8 in Vienna and the World Team Championships will be held March 14-15 in the Netherlands.
Southern California Speed Skating welcomes anyone who would like to try the sport for the first time. More information is available at www.socalspeedskating.org or www.santaclaritaspeedskating.org or www.demorra.com
-- Helene Elliott