3:03 p.m., Sept. 9, 2008----Melissa Bulanhagui of the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club won gold in the ladies event at the International Skating Union's Junior Grand Prix event held Sept. 3-7 in Merano, Italy.

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Also from the UD Figure Skating Club, Isabella Cannuscio and Ian Lorello took fifth place in the ice dancing competition, which was won by fellow Americans Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein.

Bulanhagui finished ahead of silver medalist Rumi Suizu of Japan and bronze medalist Sarah Hecken of Germany. She took first in both the short program and the free skate, compiling 127.25 points to 121.97 for Suizu and 118.65 for Hecken.

Bulanhagui, who is coached by Karen Ludington, finished fifth last season at the Junior Grand Prix event in Sofia, Bulgaria, and eighth at the 2008 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Saint Paul, Minn.

Cannuscio and Lorello, also coached by Ludington, finished fourth last year at the Junior Grand Prix event in Romania and eighth in Bulgaria. They wrapped up their 2007-08 season with a ninth-place finish as juniors at the U.S. Championships.

In coming weeks, UD ice dancers Sara Bailey and Kyle Herring will compete in the Junior Grand Prix event in Mexico City Sept. 10-14. Bailey is a freshman at the University of Delaware and Herring is a sophomore. They are coached by Christie Moxley.

Clara Peters, who trains at UD and represents Ireland, will compete in Junior Grand Prix events in Ostrava, Czech Republic, from Sept. 17-21 and in Madrid, Spain, from Sept. 24-28. Peters is coached by Ron and Karen Ludington.

Ladies freestyle skater Megan Williams-Stewart, who trains at UD and represents Puerto Rico, will compete in the Karl Schafer Memorial in Vienna, Austria, from Oct. 14-17 and in Skate Celje in Celje, Slovenia, from Nov. 6-9. She is coached by Geoff DiGregorio.

The competitors train at the UD Ice Skating Science Development Center, which is one of the world's leading training sites, a year-around facility designed to meet the needs of first-time competitors and champions alike. The ISSDC, which is housed in state-of-the-art facilities on the UD campus in Newark, Del., provides the most complete training environment in the country.

Skaters have access to two ice surfaces, at the Fred Rust Ice Arena and the Gold Ice Arena, as well as strength and aerobic training rooms and a dance studio. Coaching is available from the finest national and international coaches in the sport of figure skating. Their concentrations include figures, freestyle, pairs, dance and stroking. Furthermore, UD faculty work closely with the World and Olympic coaches in the program to advance the body of knowledge in figure skating, with research areas in sports medicine, exercise physiology, biomechanics and sports psychology. Through cooperative efforts, they provide students with the most up-to-date training programs available.

Ron Ludington is the director of the Ice Skating Science Development Center. He is a World and Olympic figure skating coach who has worked with numerous Olympians and national and international medalists. He is a member of the Ice Skating Hall of Fame, World Figure Skating Hall of Fame, Professional Skating Hall of Fame and Ice Skating Institute Hall of Fame.

Many figure skating champions have trained at UD's ISSDC, most recently Kimmie Meissner, a national and world champion.

Article by Neil Thomas
Photo by Kathy Atkinson