UD skater Stefanik wins collegiate gold

Laura Stefanik

11:08 a.m., Sept. 15, 2005--University of Delaware sophomore Laura Stefanik won the gold medal in the junior ladies competition at the 2005 U.S. Collegiate Figure Skating Championships, held Aug. 9-12 in Honolulu.

Stefanik, a native of Johnstown, Pa., is coached by Sara Weymouth and Kat Arbour of the UD Ice Skating Science Development Center and by Karen Courtland Kelly in Lake Placid, N.Y.

She is a member of the Skating Club of Lake Placid and an associate member of the Johnstown Figure Skating Club.

At UD, she is majoring in English, with minors in strength and conditioning and coaching science.

During the collegiate national championships, she skated to music from Chariots of Fire in her short program and the song "Kismet" by the group Bond in her long program.

“I was pleased to accomplish my goal of landing my double axel in the short program, and I was happy with the overall power of my long program,” Stefanik said of her performance at nationals.

She said she enrolled at UD “to be able to skate on the collegiate club team and compete for the University.”

One of Stefanik’s teammates on UD’s collegiate figure skating team, freshman Danielle Van Patten of Schenectady, N.Y., finished third in the junior ladies competition. Also competing in juniors for UD were freshmen Kelli Evers of Beaverton, Ore., and Kimberly Holzthum of Rocky Hill, Conn.

UD skaters in the senior ladies competition were sophomore Kandis Kovalsky of Newtown Square, Pa., and Kelsey Davidson of Eagle River, Alaska, who graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science.

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