Over the course of 27 hours of skating at the 2026 Sunshine State Games Figure Skating Championships this weekend, the coveted Dorothy Dodson Award was decided in the last hour at Advent Health Center Ice.
Lilyan Krzysiak, from Parrish (pictured at right) and a member of the Panthers Figure Skating Club, led off the final event of Sunday, Group B of the Intermediate Girls Free Skate, and skated to a score of 54.81.
That, combined with her score of 33.75 in the Intermediate Ladies Short Program on Saturday totaled 88.56, a half point ahead of Estero’s Maylin Vesce, score of 88.17, to win the Dorothy Dodson Award for Figure Skating Excellence for the Intermediate Level skaters.
The 15-year old Krzysiak, used her skating skills and her spins effort to compile the two scores and win the award, a mainstay in Sunshine State Games Figure Skating since 2009.
I landed my triple sal,” said Krzysiak, of her maneuver consisting of three full rotations in the air. “That’s what made the difference in my free skate.”
Krzysiak also had the top score in the Short Program, Group B, on Saturday. She has a full schedule of competitions through the end of the year to build upon her Sunshine State Games successes.
For the rest of the summer, she will skate in Florida club events statewide and embark on the National Qualifying Series (NQS) four tournaments statewide and nationwide.
Beginning in August, Krzysiak will travel to Jacksonville, Atlanta and Los Angeles in an effort to earn a spot in a national competition.
The Betty Stark Award was won by Kensington Cox (pictured at left), who lives in Atlanta, but trained in Naples leading up to the Sunshine State Games.
Cox recorded a score fo 42.85 in the Juvenile Free Skate to earn the honors. She also won a gold medal in the Short Program on Saturday.
The 10-year old skater was skating in a Free Skate program for the first time on Sunday. Her eight-year old sister, Karrington, also skated in the 2026 Sunshine State Games.
“I felt good but was a little scared,” she said. “My jumps and skating skills were really clean today,.”
Like Kryzsiak, Cox hopes to advance into National and International competitions following her success at the Sunshine State Games.
The 2026 Sunshine State Games Figure Skating Championships attracted 336 skaters from 28 Clubs for three days of events at AdventHealth Center Ice, in Wesley Chapel. The 2027 Figure Skating Championships will return to Wesley Chapel on a May date to be determined.
CLICK HERE for complete results of the 2026 Sunshine State Games Figure Skating Championships. This weekend’s event featured 336 skaters representing 28 skating clubs statewide.
CLICK HERE for information about upcoming Sunshine State Games events during the month of June.
The 38th Sunshine State Games Figure Skating Championships are a program of the Florida Sports Foundation, the official sports promotion and development organization of the State of Florida, presented in conjunction with Florida’s Sports Coast.