Local ice dancers skate to podium at Junior National Championship

EAST LANSING, Mich. - It’s been a good year for the ice dancing teams who train at the Pavilion Skating Club in Cleveland Heights.

Three teams have qualified for national competition and so far Intermediate ice dancers Kimmie Berkovich and Micah Jaffe have won their first ever national medal.

Berkovich and Jaffe skated to an overall fourth place finish (pewter medal) at the United States Junior Figure Skating Championship which was held in East Lansing, Mich. in December.

The team placed 4th in their compulsory Tango Dance, 3rd in the American Waltz and 6th in their Free Dance for an overall 4th place finish with a total score of 86.30 -- a big improvement over last season, when the team placed 5th in the Juvenile division with an overall score of 73.01.

Berkovich and Jaffe have been together for just two short years and their level of accomplishment is quite extraordinary. Berkovich, 15, lives in South Euclid and is a sophomore in Ohio Virtual Academy and also takes classes at Tri- C. She is a member of the Junior Honor Society and received the President's Award for Academic Excellence last year. Jaffe, of Cleveland Heights, is 15 and a sophomore at Hawken School where he plays on the golf team.

Two more ice dance teams, Hannah Rosinski and Jacob Jaffe (Micah’s older brother) and Holly Moore and Daniel Klaber will compete later this month in the United States Figure Skating Championship which will be held in San Jose, Calif.

All three teams are coached at the Cleveland Heights Community Center by Jackie Miles and Chip Rossbach, longtime Cleveland area dance coaches.

To read more about figure skating in Greater Cleveland and to find local skating events near you, visit: http://clevelandskating.com/ .