San Marino children Natalina and Nathaniel Chen won gold medals on Saturday, July 23 at the West Coast Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympics becoming Junior 1 American Rhythm Champions. Additionally, Nathaniel and his partner Liza Shlimovich of Los Angeles became Junior 1 and Junior 2 American Smooth Champions receiving gold medals. The Junior 1 category is for dancers aged younger than 14 years old and the Junior 2 category is for dancers aged younger than 16 years old. Nathaniel and Natalina also became Junior American Rhythm champions at the 2016 Desert Classic DanceSport Championships last month. Nathaniel and another partner, Liza Shlimovich, were named Junior American
Smooth champions at the same competition. Nathaniel will be entering the eighth grade at Huntington Middle School and Natalina will be going into fifth grade at Valentine Elementary School. They are the children of San Marino City Club President Frank Chen and San Marino Recreation Commissioner Chun-Yen Chen.
