Looking Out For No. 1

Lesley Hawker isn't ready to settle for third-best anymore.
Or second, for that matter.
Nope. Mrs. Doherty, who'll always be gold-medal stuff in the blogosphere (as scientific as that sounds), wants to stand on top of the podium at the 2008 Canadian championships in Vancouver.
(and you can all save your 'will that make her the oldest Canadian women's champion ever' thoughts for then, thank you).
"I want to be a major player at Canadians ... Even win it this year," said Hawker, 26, of Alliston, Ont., who was the senior women's bronze medallist at nationals the past two years. "I don't want to just settle for anything. I've been given a great talent, I love what I do and I just want to make sure I use it to my fullest ability."
Hawker finished ninth at HomeSense Skate Canada, which made her the No. 2 Canadian here — behind bronze-medal winner Joannie Rochette of Ile-Dupas, Que., and ahead of Cynthia Phaneuf of Contrecoeur, Que., who wound up 10th after Saturday's free skate final.
More importantly, she senses the quality of her skating has taken another leap forward since this time a year ago — and rightly so, we'd add.
"I'm really happy with my skating,” she said.
Now she'd like to rise to the level of Janet Lynn, the 1970s American skating legend who is greatly admired by Hawker, and so many others.
"I'm sure anybody in the skating world knows (Lynn),” she said. "A beautiful smile, her edge quality, her smoothness ... she was just breath-taking to watch.
"I've been watching a lot of old tapes of older skaters — YouTube is great for that — trying to really emulate their softness. I want to be the kind of skater that you watch and say 'oh, that looked so easy, it looks fun.' ”
Fun and first ... now there's a winning ticket, right?
Hey, she's halfway there. At least in our poll — which, of course, is completely unscientific.