It didn’t take ice skater Ashlee Evans long to become one of the country’s best.

In her first year trying, Evans qualified for the National Solo Dance Championships Sept. 20-23 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

“I’m really, really excited about it,” said the 17-year-old Kentridge senior. “I’m just so happy.”

Evans practices as Castle Ice Arena in Renton, where she also works to offset the cost of her skating. She takes classes at Green River Community College through Running Start so she can work 8-10 hours of skating into her week.

There are qualifying events through the year and the top six skaters from the Pacific Coast, Eastern and Midwest regions qualify for the national event. Evans placed third in the Pacific Coast region.

She’s been skating figure skating, freestyle and ice dance for about 10 years.

After competing at the national competition, and going through all of her dance tests, Evans wants to become a skating coach.

Another thing Evans is hoping to do is find a dance partner.

“It’s really hard to find a partner in this area. It’s not a big dance area, so there aren’t many people doing it around here,” she said.

Her favorite move is the camel spin, something she learned long ago, but is always working on because it’s a base spin to build other moves.

She’s overcome a nasty fall last summer, when she tore her hamstring and nearly ripped a tendon. She dealt with pain for about six months.

“It was the weirdest freak fall ever,” she said. “There’s no jumping in dance, but your feet are so close together they can get caught easily. Those are the scarier falls.”

Evans travels to Colorado Springs on Monday. She will compete at the Bronze Level in the Solo Pattern competition and the Juvenile Level in the Solo Free Dance competition.

To see results or for more information about the competition, go to usfigureskating.org/event_details.asp?id=48369