LORAIN, Ohio — Ariel Burger has been roller skating since she was 3 years old.
"I was against the wall falling all over the place and I go, 'Mom, I wanna come here every day!' said Ariel.
Now, at age 10, she's a national champion.
"I was super excited. I was crying," said Ariel.
Of course, they were good tears. Ariel beat out twelve other girls - the top skaters from seven regions across the country - to win gold in the Juvenile Girls Freestyle Championship in Lincoln, Nebraska.
"Everyone was so excited. Miss Brenda, my teacher, was so excited. I was so excited. My mom was so excited," said Ariel.
"I knew she was good. She had won some of the local competitions with that routine and also regionals, but to see it at nationals, with all the winners from all seven regions, we just couldn't believe it. We were so proud," said Ariel's mother Adrianne Burger.
Ariel spent 10 months preparing her winning routine, but the dream really began when she was on the other side of the glass at nationals last year.
"She goes, 'I'm gonna tell you something. I'm gonna be on that podium next year.' She goes, 'I'm gonna work so hard I'm not gonna be able to miss it.' I was like, 'Deal!' We shook hands and it was really really sweet, but she did - she stayed focused the whole year," said Ariel's coach Brenda Massey.
Ariel trains three hours a day, multiple times a week. Now, she has a lot to show for it. She also won bronze in the creative and show team events.
Carly Mascitti is a sports anchor at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on Twitter @carlymascitti.
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
