Breanna Kressin is a Senior at the Crookston High School and has been on the ice skating since she was 2 years old. Over the past couple of years, she has been awarded four Gold Medals through the USFSA, one in each of the following categories.
- Freestyle
- Sole Free Dance
- Ice Dancing
- Moves in the field
For those not familiar with Figure Skating, Gold Medals are not easy to come by. “You have to take a certain number of tests to achieve a Gold Medal,” said Breanna. “For example, in Ice Dancing, I took 22 different kinds of tests. So, there is a lot of testing that needs to happen to get to that level and that is basically the grand level. I have taken enough tests in all the categories now where I have a Gold Medal in each one, and I’m all done with my USFSA Figure Skating testing.”
Breanna got her first Gold Medal during her Sophomore year, and the other three more recently during her Senior year. While she has been extremely busy trying to accomplish this feat., she said it’s been more than worthwhile. “It was really this past year where I decided I wanted to work on my tests and committed time to testing rather than competitions,” said Breanna. “I was close enough in all the categories where I decided it was something I wanted to pursue and I’m very thankful I decided to pursue it and stuck with it.”
While she has certainly had a successful Figure Skating career, and accomplished goals she has had in place, there was a time when Breanna was not a fan of skating. “My parents initially put me into it to see what would happen, and at first I did not like it at all,” said Breanna. “I would march off the ice and basically wanted no part of it. My Aunt and Uncle actually wanted me to continue on and stick it out, so I did, and ever since then I’ve really enjoyed it and I’m so happy I kept doing it.”
As mentioned before, Figure Skating is broken up into several different categories, and Breanna at one time or another has experience with each one. “I do quite a bit with most of my skating being just regular freestyle which is the jumps and spins,” said Breanna. “Ice Dancing is more edgework where you’re skating around the rink and moves in the field is also a lot of edge work. I’ve gotten to do a variety of stuff and I enjoy all of it.”
Breanna does more than just skating, however, as she was a part of the Crookston Volleyball team this past fall and will be participating in Track & Field again this spring at the High School. Breanna is the Libero on the Volleyball team, and runs the 100m hurdle, 300m hurdle, and usually the 4X200 relay in Track. Like most athletes who play multiple sports, Breanna’s favorite one is whatever one she is currently playing. “I’ve always had a hard time picking a favorite sport because I just love them all so much,” said Breanna. “They’re all a little different because Volleyball has such a team aspect wherein Figure Skating and Track & Field it’s maybe a little more of an individual sport. Figure Skating is the one I feel like I can do throughout the rest of my life, so it does have a special place.”
A big reason for Breanna’s love for Figure Skating, and why she continues to pursue it, is because she feels she can make an impact on others through it later in life. “When I’m older coaching is something, I would love to do, and I think I could take all the information that I’ve learned over the years and help others,” said Breanna. “I think it’s great seeing younger skaters learn new things and seeing their progress as they continue to experience things for the first time. I would love to see that in my future and in Volleyball and Track & Field it wouldn’t be the same as it is for Figure Skating.”
One of Breanna’s favorite parts of Figure Skating the past few years has been participating every year in the Crookston Figure Skating Show. “Our shows are definitely the highlight of the year,” said Breanna. “I always really look forward to making new routines and doing that with my friends so that is always a big highlight every year.”
This past weekend was the last time Breanna will be a part of one of the Crookston Figure Skating Shows as a performer, as she will be graduating from Crookston High School this spring. That doesn’t mean she is done skating anytime soon. “During track is the only time I’m not skating at all because it’s just too much on my legs,” said Breanna. “Once Track ends though, I usually pick it up again in the summer and that’s my plan again this year.”
Breanna will not be hanging up the skates after this summer either, as she plans on attending the University of Minnesota in the fall and will skate with the cheer team. “What I’ll be doing there with the team is more of a freestyle routine before all the games and during intermissions and things like that,” said Breanna. “Then during the games as people have seen, we will be in the stands cheering. So mostly it’s a freestyle routine, but as part of the team I’ll also be skating and doing other things with teammates. So, there is both a team aspect as well as a solo aspect to it.”
Breanna will be heading down to the University of Minnesota for two weeks this summer to start training with the cheer team as well. While there are Synchro Figure Skating teams that hold competitions, Breanna doesn’t believe that the University of Minnesota has one, and she doesn’t specialize in Synchro anyways. She is more than happy being a part of the cheer team, and they even travel with the Gophers throughout their playoff runs. Breanna will be majoring in Kinesiology and plans to go on the pre-PA track and go to a Physicians Assistant school after that.
Breanna is just another example of an excellent athlete at the Crookston High School, who also has a bright future ahead of her once her skating days are over.
