Top 8 at Junior Nationals
- Mao Shimada
- Ikura Shida
- Rena Uezono
- Yo Takagi
- Ayumi Shibiyama
- Haruna Murakami
- Riria Kono (not age-eligible for senior Exemptions (due to top 3 at last season’s Nationals): Sakamoto, Mihara
Exemptions from Sectionals due to timing of GP assignment: Yoshida, Chiba, Kawabe, Matsuike, Sumiyoshi, Watanabe, Higuchi
That’s 28. The second group of exemptions still had to do well at regionals. Kono is a novice skater and doesn’t qualify for Nationals due to her age. They could have just moved down to the next age eligible skater, but they didn’t. I agree with this. It’s top 8, not top 8 age-eligible skaters. This prevents a situation where
a skater places 10th at Junior Nationals yet still gets to go.