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GREENSBORO — A person must be driven to compete at the national level of figure skating, but Ana Draovitch is really driven a bit more than most.

Her mom drives about 600 miles from Cary to Fairfax, Va., to take the Novice figure skater up for a week of practice.

"I leave the house at 3 (a.m.), I get her to the rink by 8, and I pack her breakfast and lunches for the week," Janie Draovitch said of her Monday morning routine. Later in the week, she makes the trip back to Virginia to bring her daughter home for the weekend.

Ana Draovitch, meanwhile, sleeps or does schoolwork through her online high school as they ride. She makes this trip nearly every week of the year.

Most 14-year-olds are excited about going to high school, but Ana gave up the freshman-year experience to work with top coaches.

"I've sacrificed a lot," Draovitch said after her short program Sunday. "My mom has sacrificed a lot."

Draovitch is in fifth place in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at the Greensboro Coliseum, with her long program scheduled for today. Draovitch will be 10th on the ice in competition that begins at 12:30 p.m.

"I wanted to go out there and have fun," Draovitch said of her short program skate Sunday.

She is an honors student with high marks.

"They have to use time-management skills that most adults wouldn't be able to handle," said her mother.

And she has a good following. The crowd got loud when she took the ice Sunday, and plenty of people threw stuffed toys onto the ice when she finished her program.

"I almost cried," said her sister, Daria, in a pitch that also shows true admiration for her older sibling.

Her friend Annalie Ricketts came from Raleigh to watch, and Ricketts will skip school today to see Draovitch compete again.

"It's a religious holiday," she said, smiling.

Another 50 people came from Virginia and Pennsylvania to see Draovitch, her mom said.

The hours the two spend together on the road also count as quality time. Janie Draovitch bought the burgundy Acura MDX in which they travel in May. It already has nearly 60,000 miles on the odometer. "It's her second home," she said.

They have an Internet hotspot in the car and an outlet for a computer to plug in and get power.

Ana Draovitch finds time still for social outlets. Her friends are in figure skating, and her mom says it's important to have a life outside of the sport, often with family.

"It will be quality time," he mom said. "Not quantity time."

Draovitch really just takes skating and the competition one step at a time.

"I just want to give a show," the skater said. "I want what I've done in practice to be the same in the competition."

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com