March 13th, 2015, Charlottetown – Speed Skate PEI named its team for the 2015 Canada East Short Track Championships today. The Island contingent will consist of eight skaters who will compete against the best 11 to 15 year-old skaters from Ontario, Quebec, the Atlantic Provinces and Nunavut on March 21 and 22 in Fredericton, N.B..
Fredericton Amateur Speed Skating Club Hosts Canada East 2015 on March 21 & 22
Team P.E.I. will be led by Peter McQuaid and Miriam Burnett. Both skaters were members of P.E.I.’s 2015 Canada Winter Games team and will compete in the 14 year old male and female age groups respectively. Also returning to the PEI team from past Canada East competitions will be Eliana Monthony and Kristen Binns. Monthony, of Cornwall, and Binns, of Stratford, will be competing in the 13 year girls group. Monthony competed for P.E.I. in Halifax in 2013, while Binns was a member of the Halifax team and also competed last year in Riviere-du-Loup, QC. In addition to their four individual events, Burnett, Monthony and Binns will also give P.E.I. its first female relay team at the Canada East event, now in its fifth year.
New to the Island team are Matthew Kozma, Thomas McQuaid, Kyle Connell and Jenna Larter. Kozma will compete in the 13 year boys category. After a solid season on the regional circuit which included a gold medal at the Atlantic Cup in November, Kozma posted significant improvements in his times throughout the season. McQuaid and Connell will make their debuts in the 12 year boys category, where they are looking for a strong competitive showing. Both skaters have ranked among the top Atlantic skaters in their age group for several years. The Canada East competition will provide their first test against the best from Ontario and Quebec. The pair will also team with Kozma in the 2000 metre relay event, giving P.E.I. its first all-P.E.I. relay entry in the Canada East 12-13 boys relay.
Larter will be joining the Island’s Canada East team in her rookie season. She will be skating in the 12 year girls division after an excellent first year in the sport, where she brought home medals from three of four regional meets she attended.
Phil Byrne will coach the P.E.I. squad. Byrne coached the Island’s Canada Games team in 2011 and will be coaching at the Canada East event for the first time.
Carly Connell had PEI’s best ever Canada East finish with a 5th place showing in her 200m sprint event in 2013. Each Province is guaranteed two entries per age group per gender and skaters earn their spots on provincial teams based on specific selection events, or from their respective provincial ranking lists which are based on their competitive results throughout the season.
For more information, visit www.speedskatepei.com.
