EP’s own Nina Huynh finds her way to the top of the podium

Nearly six months after the Eden Prairie High School boys’ hockey team captured a state championship, another member of the Eden Prairie community has come home with some championship hardware.

The latest is 15-year-old Nina Huynh. A member of the Eden Prairie Figure Skating Club (EPFSC), Huynh captured the state championship in the open juvenile girls division state title in September. 

Huynh won her state championship at the Bloomington Ice Garden, the home of this year’s Minnesota State Figure Skating Championships. Her division featured six other skaters. Huynh finished the competition with a score of 32.74, nearly one point better than the second-place finisher, Tatiana McKay of the Figure Skating Club of Bloomington.

“I’m so excited to have competed in the Minnesota State Figure Skating Championships with my Eden Prairie Figure Skating Club teammates,” Huynh said in a press release sent out by EPFSC. “I feel very accomplished to have won first place in my division.”

The three-day event in Bloomington resulted in 21 individual champions along with one team crown. It is hosted by the Twin City Figure Skating Association. Huynh was the only Eden Prairie native to take home a championship in this event. 

Six other EPFSC members competed in the state championships, including Nina’s sister, Sachi Huynh. She finished 10th in the pre-juvenile girls competition. Other competitors included Bergen Papa, who finished third in the intermediate men’s combined division.

Nina Huynh is the first EPFSC member to win state in this division since Lauren Muench did so in 2010. The last EPFSC skater to win a state title before Huynh was Daniel Borisov, who won first place competing in the preliminary boys division. In its more than 35 years of operation, EPFSC has helped skaters at all levels and produced 19 Minnesota State Figure Skating Championships first-place finishes. 

This was Huynh’s third time competing in the state championships. Skating with her sisters, Huynh has been practicing the sport since she was 3 years old. Before this one, her most recent competition was the 2019 Northland Competition, where she took first place in the Pre-Juvenile Girls division. 

Huynh’s win is one of the latest steps in her development as a figure skater, according to coach Rachel Nelson.

“Nina is a beautiful skater who is so elegant and graceful on the ice,” Nelson said. “She has such a great work ethic, and I’m so happy to see her get recognized as an elite skater.”