More than 230 of the nation's top solo dance athletes converged in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to compete at the 2026 National Solo Dance Final this past week.

Lucas Appel (Florida Everblades FSC) earned his third senior combined title, while Cyrianne McReynolds (Washington FSC) won her first junior combined gold medal. Amal Israilova (Palm Beach FSC) added a fourth consecutive gold medal in the international pattern dance competition.

Held at the Wings Event Center, the event also saw multiple skaters local to Michigan stand on the podium at the top levels of the solo dance combined, solo pattern dance and shadow dance events.

Below are results from the senior combined, junior combined, gold pattern dance, international pattern dance, gold shadow dance and international shadow dance events.

Senior Combined
In the junior and senior combined events, skaters performed their rhythm dance to music from the 1990s, mirroring the theme for the rhythm dance in partnered ice dance events from the 2025–26 competitive season.

Appel made a triumphant return to the top of the senior ranks with a score of 199.64.

His rhythm dance to a medley of "Vogue" by Madonna and "Walk 4 Me" by Tronco Traxx garnered Level 4s on his opening sequential twizzles and his Ina Bauer edge element. His final element — a choreographic rhythm sequence —received a grade of execution of 5.63.

Entering the free dance in first place with 83.85 points, Appel came out strong in his performance to "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago with a Level 4 solo twizzle worth 10.29 points. All three edge elements and his dance spin earned Level 4 marks en route to a segment score of 115.79.

For Appel, this win was meaningful for him not only because he experienced multiple setbacks over the past year, but for his personal growth as well.

"It feels great because last year was kind of a struggle with injuries and equipment issues, so regrouping this year and doing programs that felt authentically me, after also publicly coming out this year, also fueled my fire to present myself authentically," Appel said. "I'm so glad it ended up with my third title."

Israilova captured her second straight silver and third consecutive medal in the senior event with a total score of 195.86.

Her high energy rhythm dance to "Vogue" by Madonna featured a Level 4 spread eagle edge element and Level 4 sequential twizzles. Her pattern dance type step sequence was the highest-scoring element of her performance at 12.33 points.

In the free dance, Israilova's Carmen program earned Level 4s on all edge elements with her final one yielding 7.49 points. She earned a Level 4 for her one foot turns sequence and dance spin. Her program component score of 43.10 was the highest in the event, adding to a segment score of 115.49.

Teammates at the Washington FSC, Violet Yan earned bronze with 176.93 points and Alison Rho tallied 168.30 points to take home pewter.

Junior Combined
McReynolds' was victorious in the junior event. Her total score of 145.25 topped the field by more than 2.5 points.

"The competition itself is so unique," McReynolds said. "My favorite experience is hanging out with everybody here. Our community is so tight-knit and everybody's just so kind and supportive and sweet. So just being with all your competitors and friends here and getting to see everybody is amazing."

In her rhythm dance to a Ricky Martin medley, her opening rhumba pattern hit all three key points and generated 6.55 points. She ended her performance with a Level 4 edge element and a midline step sequence worth 10.09 points for a segment score of 61.83.

McReynolds' 83.42- point free dance to "Vuelvo al Sur" by Gotan Project was highlighted by her solo twizzles, which received a Level 4 and 9.20 points. Her midline step sequence earned 10.09 with a grade of execution of 3.13.

Margaret Letcher (Greater Kalamazoo Skating Association) clinched silver on home ice with 142.57 points overall.

The Michigan native earned 61.44 points for her rhythm dance to a Ricky Martin medley thanks in part to Level 4s on her sequential twizzles and spread eagle edge element. Her quickstep pattern sequence tallied 6.42 points.

In the free dance, Letcher opened her skate to "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" by Celine Dion with two Level 4 elements — a dance spin followed by a spread eagle edge element —which contributed a combined 13.90 points toward a segment score of 81.13.

Noelle Thackeray (Centennial Park FSC) posted 58.53 points in the rhythm dance and won the free dance with 83.72 points for 142.25 points overall to claim bronze.

Pewter medalist Felicia Lin (Ann Arbor FSC)'s score of 134.90 was comprised of 57.21 points in the rhythm dance and 77.69 points in the free dance.

International Solo Pattern Dance
In this event, athletes competed a tango romantica followed by an Austrian waltz variation.

Israilova was victorious for the fourth consecutive year, winning by an impressive 8.0 points.

She garnered 35.69 for her tango romantica to "Tango De Los Exilados" by Vanessa Mae. Both patterns garnered more than 10 points apiece with the second pattern scoring 10.98 points.  Her program component score was the highest of the competition at 14.05.

On day two, the defending champion extended her lead. Skating to music by Ella Fitzgerald, she earned 13.15 points for the first of two patterns, which hit all three key points and she was the only skater to tally more than eight points in each of the three program component scoring categories.

"The waltz is one of my more favorite dances," Israilova said. "I feel like it's just so flowy and airy. It lets me flow through each movement. As soon as I hit that end pose, I realized, 'Wow, it just happened so quickly.' It went by in a flash, but I've enjoyed every moment of it."

Khloe Felton, who skated at her home club, earned silver, her first podium finish in this event after finishing in fifth in 2025.

Her tango romantica pattern set to "Black Valentine" by Caro Emerald produced 11.95 points for the first sequence, 9.23 points for the second and 12.28 for program components for 33.46 points in the segment.

Felton delivered another strong skate on day two. Her Austrian Waltz variation was set to an instrumental version of "Skyfall" by Adele. It earned 12.10 points and all three key points for the first sequence. She collected 35.08 points for a combined score of 68.54.

Evan Bertz (University of Delaware FSC) earned bronze, while Jessica Burns (Ann Arbor FSC) collected the pewter medal with 63.39 and 62.89 total points, respectively.

Gold Solo Pattern Dance
Competition consisted of two segments: an Argentine tango and a Westminster Waltz.  

In her second of two wins at this event, McReynolds earned 64.60 points in the gold solo pattern dance competition. In the first segment, she performed to "Tu Sentimiento" by Tango Jointz and earned 11.05 points for her first sequence. She ended the first day with 32.04 points.  

McReynold's Westminster Waltz to "Pearl" from Cirque du Soleil garnered 32.56 points. She received 11.10 points for her first sequence and judges were impressed with her presentation, which earned 5.75 points toward a program component score of 10.05.
Evelyn Zheng (Washington FSC), Felicia Lin (Ann Arbor FSC) and Margaret Letcher (Greater Kalamazoo Skating Association) made up the remainder of the podium. A total of 0.32 points separated the skaters.

Skating to "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" by HOYO-MiX, Zheng's Argentine tango score of 31.97 featured an element score of 21.85 and component score of 10.12.

Continuing with the Westminster Waltz, Zheng's skate to "Merry-Go-Round of Life" from Howl's Moving Castle scored a combined 20.52 points for both pattern sequences and 10.21 points for each program component, adding to 30.73. Both her presentation and skating skills scores were tied at 5.50 each. Her final score was 62.70.

Lin was awarded bronze thanks to a score of 62.39 and Letcher clinched pewter with 62.38 points.

International Shadow Dance
At the international level, competitors performed a Yankee polka.

Quincy Hassell and Rachel Bournias (Coyotes SC of Arizona) delivered a dominant performance, winning by more than four points with a score of 28.37. Skating to "The Lonely Goatherd" from The Sound of Music, their element score of 18.20 was 2.62 points higher than second place and they were the only team to score more than four points for each pattern sequence.

Last season, Hassel and Bournais finished just off the podium in the gold shadow dance competition.

Brielle Backer and Shaylin Backer (Onyx-Suburban Skating Academy) carted home silver with their skate to "Yellow Rose of Texas" by Jimmy Sturr. They garnered 7.88 points for their first sequence and their program component score included 4.75 points for presentation, both of which contributed to a score of 24.21.

Mackenzie Neuendorf (Wisconsin FSC) and Kaitlyn Mader (Kettle Moraine FSC) earned bronze with 21.14 points.

Margaryta Polishchuk and Sarah Fuller (Sunshine State FSC) rounded out the podium with a score of 19.50 and the pewter medal.

Gold Shadow Dance
All athletes performed a quickstep.

Khloe Felton (Greater Kalamazoo Skating Association) and Evan Bertz (University of Delaware FSC) captured the gold medal. Their skate to "We Go Together" from Grease tallied 28.28 points. This marks the fourth consecutive podium finish and first win since 2023 for Felton in this event.

The separation between first and second place came down to the program component score. Felton and Bertz received 5.67 points in both the presentation and skating skills categories, as well as 5.58 points for timing.

Competing in their home state, Jessica Burns and Felicia Lin (Ann Arbor FSC) finished with the silver medal. The team earned its highest points in the presentation portion of the program component score, contributing 5.42 points to an overall score of 27.89 for their skate to "Happy Feet."

Representing the Washington FSC, Denali Blackburn and Lara Unver scored 25.69 points to clinch the bronze medal.

Addison Manofsky (Palm Beach FSC) and Hyaat Aldahwi (Palm Beach FSC) took home the pewter medal with 20.94 points.

For full results from the 2026 National Solo Dance Final, click here.