By Ryanne Riet | [email protected]

The Murray Silver Blades Figure Skating Club has had its home in Murray for over 15 years. The goal of the club is to encourage skaters, advance their skills, and build harmonious relationships with fellow skaters. 

This year, the Murray Silver Blades Figure Skating Club is proud to send one of their own skaters off to join Team USA. 

Fifteen-year-old Hannah Herrera is one of the lucky few who qualified to skate for Team USA on the ice this year. 

Hannah started her skating journey 10 years ago. 

“I played soccer and baseball when I was little, but I didn’t have as much fun, so that is why I decided to continue figure skating,” Hannah said. 

Team USA is made up of athletes and teams who are selected by the U.S. Figure Skating International Committee or the International Skating Union to represent the United States at ISU events such as international events, Junior Grand Prix events, Grand Prix events, Challenger Series events, ISU championships, and the Olympic Winter Games.

Over the past two seasons she has placed within the top four spots in regionals and sectionals, allowing her to compete in the national competition. 

This year alone Hannah has had some notable competitive accomplishments. 

She placed fourth in the junior division of the 2020 Challenge Cup, an international competition. She placed second in the novice division of the 2020 Pacific Coast Sectional Final. She also took first place in the novice division of the 2020 Central Pacific Regional Challenge. 

“My biggest inspiration has been watching all the televised figure skating events,” Hannah said. “I remember thinking how cool the skaters were, and how I wanted to be like them.” Her role models are two-time Olympic figure skating champion Yuzuru Hanyu, and 2020’s European figure skating champion Alena Kostornaia.

Hannah’s coaches at the Murray Silver Blades Figure Skating Club are Christopher Ord and Evgeniya Chernyshova. 

Chernyshova was the former coach of two-time figure skating World Champion and 2018 Olympian Nathan Chen. 

Hannah’s personal bests for international competitions are 52.51 in Short Program skating and 104.27 in Freeskating, both were achieved during the 2020 Challenge Cup, leaving Hannah’s final score during the competition at 156.28.

In the U.S. qualifying competitions this year, Hannah’s personal bests were achieved in the 2020 U.S. Championships where she competed in the junior division scoring 44.32 in Short Program and 82.28 in Freeskating. 

Her skating motto: “No matter how hard it gets always get back up and keep trying.”