Amherst Skating Club
Piasecki, Lessard win medals at State Games of America

Amherst Skating Club's Paige-Noel Piasecki, left, and Lindsay Lessard won medals at the State Games of America held Aug. 1 to 5 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Amherst Skating Club left its mark at this year's State Games of America.

Paige-Noel Piasecki and Lindsay Lessard each took medals at the event held Aug. 1 to 5 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Piasecki, 16, took silver in the open solo showcase platinum, bronze in the open junior short program and sixth in the championship senior free style. Lessard, 19, earned bronze in the championship senior free style and open footwork platinum.

Piasecki started skating when she was 2 with her grandmother and started taking private lessons with the Buffalo Skating Club at age 4. She moved to Amherst in 1999 and joined the Amherst Skating Club. Piasecki skates at the junior level. (Emily Hughes skates at the senior level.).

Piasecki, a senior this fall at Williamsville South, is coached by Lisa Ervin Baudo and Mary Emes. She hopes to one day be a sports reporter and photographer.

Lessard started skating at age 10 with the Fort Erie Figure Skating Club, Canada. She has been a member of the Amherst Skating Club for eight years and has earned her U.S. Figure Skating Association Senior Free Style and Senior Moves-in-the-Field, and Skate Canada Gold Free Style, Gold Dance, Gold Skills and Gold Interpretive tests. She is coached by Jeannie Widlicka-Lafornara.

Lessard will be a junior this fall at Canisius College, majoring in marketing and fashion merchandising. Her goal is to go to Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City for her senior year and hopes to graduate with a bachelor's degree in marketing and fashion merchandising.

The SGAs are held every biennium. The SGA Web site said medal winners from 49 State Games nationwide earn the right to com- pete against other winners and match their skills and competitive desire in a national arena. In order to qualify for the State Games of America, participants must have won a gold, silver or bronze medal in an SGA sport in their local State Games in a qualifying year (2005 or 2006 summer, 2006 or 2007 winter).

Lessard and Piasecki qualified for the SGAs at the 27th Empire State Games in Lake Placid from Feb. 23 to 25 in Lake Placid, N.Y. Lessard took gold in the open senior ladies division. Piasecki placed third in junior ladies division.

The State Games concept was developed in New York in 1978 with the Empire State Games, the SGA site stated. In 2006, more than 500,000 athletes competed in State Games nationwide. State Games feature various sports of the Olympic and Pan-American Games, as well as sports that have regional popularity within each state.