LAKE PLACID --- More than 2,300 skaters from 150 teams throughout the eastern United States will compete at the Olympic Center during the 2011 Eastern Synchronized Skating Sectional Championships, Feb. 3-5. The event was last held in Lake Placid in 1998.

The event is a qualifier to the U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships. The top four finishers in the senior, junior, novice, intermediate, juvenile, collegiate, adult and masters divisions will move on to the 2011 U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships, March 2-5, in Ontario, Calif.

Organized by the Olympic Regional Development Authority with the Skating Club of Lake Placid, and sanctioned by U.S. Figure Skating, the event will feature teams from as far south as North Carolina to as far north as Maine.

Synchronized skating is the fastest growing discipline of figure skating. Teams consist of eight to 20 athletes, each moving as one flowing unit. Each team performs a free skating program made up of required formations and footwork sequences with emphasis on precise movements, unison of team members and creativity. Junior and senior level teams will also perform a short program.

Tickets for the 2011 Eastern Synchronized Team Skating Sectional Championships are $15 per day for adults and $12 for juniors and seniors. Teams to watch include world silver medalists, the Haydenettes (senior); world junior team alternates, the Lexettes (junior); national champions, Ice Mates (novice); national bronze medalists, the University of Delaware (collegiate) and national champions, Esprit de Corps (adult).

For more information, log on to www.lakeplacidskating.com/newsite/.