Skating exhibition draws full house

1:21 p.m., Feb. 19, 2005--A full house at the Fred Rust Ice Arena bid an emotional farewell to two former champions and loudly cheered several rising stars as the University of Delaware held a world figure skating championships send-off exhibition Friday night.

Making their final appearance at UD were Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn, members of the 2002 Olympic team and the 2003 national champions. The pair skaters put on a spectacular performance and left the ice to a standing ovation.

The fans also were boisterous in their support of young stars Kimmie Meissner, who at age 15 holds the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships bronze medal, and Shaun Rogers, 19, an exceptionally powerful skater who finished sixth at nationals and who easily won a special triple axel competition during the send-off show.

Meissner and Rogers will lead the U.S. team at the 2005 International Skating Union Junior World Championships, to be held Feb. 28-March 6 in Kitchener, Ontario.

Rogers competed in the triple axel contest with Joel Savary, a skater from Jamaica whose 6-year-old brother Emmanuel opened the exhibition, Jordan Miller, Geoff Varner and Melissa Bulanhagui.

Also among those performing were pair skaters Natalya Gudina and Alexei Beletski, who will represent Israel in the ISU Senior World Championships in Moscow, ladies national team member Megan Williams-Stewart and junior silver medalist Christine Zukowski.

Article by Neil Thomas

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