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Mariani, a junior, has been skating competitively with Skyliners for six years. She earned TeamUSA status, competing for the USA at French Cup in Rouen, France. The trip next week to Worlds in Zagreb, Croatia, will be Mariani's first trip to a world competition.
In addition, the team's performance prompted the U.S. Figure Skating Association (USFSA), the national governing body for figure skating, to designate Skyliners Junior as TeamUSA 1 in the upcoming Junior Worlds Championship on Friday and Saturday in Zagreb.
Skyliners Junior line won the right to go to Worlds this year at the Junior World Qualifying event – the New England Challenge Cup, held in Marlboro, Massachusetts, in February.
In that competition, the teams that finished in first and second place earned the right to go to Worlds as TeamUSA 1 and TeamUSA 2. Skyliners was in first place after their nearly flawless short program but came in second in the long program and second overall in the competition to archrival Lexettes, a junior team from Lexington, Massachusetts.
In a ceremony honoring both teams, USFSA told the skaters that since one had won the short program and one had won the long program, the judges would wait to see how the two teams performed at Nationals before designating TeamUSA 1 and 2.
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