Despite a silver medal at sectionals earlier this month, Rachel Pettitt knows she can do better.

The 15-year-old Whitehorse figure skater finished second among novice women at the B.C./Yukon Sectional Championships in Prince George, B.C., held Nov. 9 to 12.

Pettitt’s showing not only qualified her for Skate Canada Challenge Dec. 3 to 7 in Montreal, it also earned her a first-place finish in the Pond to Podium Super Series for the second time in her career.

Despite the accolades, Pettitt acknowledged she didn’t skate her best in Prince George.

Pettitt scored a 69.31 in her long – best in class – and picked up 35.16 points in her short for a total of 104.47, just 1.13 points back of gold-medal winner and Kelowna teammate Mckenna Colthorp.

“My short wasn’t the best I’ve had this year,” Pettitt told the Star.

“I missed a few of my spin levels which cost me some easy points. My long started off really good. Towards the end, it wasn’t the best but I kept fighting.

“I would have won the whole competition if I had got one more point in my short or my long. So that was a bummer, but

I’m happy with second.”

Fellow Yukoner Mikayla Kramer, 12, also competed at sectionals, finishing 28th overall in pre-novice, scoring 59.32.

Pettitt previously won the Pond to Podium series – an award that totals a skater’s top three finishes from six major B.C. competitions each year – as a pre-novice skater in 2012.

Pettitt, who continues to represent Whitehorse’s Arctic Edge Skating Club despite training out of Kelowna, struck gold in May at the Super Series Victoria Day event in Surrey, and again at Autumn Leaves in Kamloops last month.

Her silver medal in Prince George propelled her to the top of the Pond to Podium results.

“I feel like it’s a nice reward for how I’ve been doing,” Pettitt said of the honour. “It’s nice to be recognized for that.”

While the awards are nice, the Yukoner continues to push herself in training.

“There’s a lot of really good skaters at the Kelowna club that help push me, but I also constantly want to get better,” she said. “Each competition I want to get a personal best. That’s what motivates me ... landing all my triples and trying new jumps.”

If Pettitt finishes in the top 18 in her category at Challenge next week, she will move on to the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in Kingston, Ont., Jan. 19 to 25.

She is currently working on a triple-loop, but will keep her program intact for Challenge.

“If I do good there, maybe I can work it in for Canadians,” said Pettitt of Challenge.

“My goal is to medal. I hope I can just skate how I am and not put too much pressure on myself.”

In 2012, Pettitt placed fourth in the pre-novice category at Challenge.

This time, she hopes to set the bar even higher.