National champs
UD Intercollegiate Figure Skating Team wins fourth national title
8:52 a.m., April 17, 2014--The University of Delaware Intercollegiate Figure Skating Team (UDFS) won its fourth national title at the 2014 U.S. Figure Skating Intercollegiate Team Championships held April 12-13 and hosted by Adrian (Mich.) College.
“Honestly, I was not surprised that we won nationals,” said team vice president Clara Sherman. “Our team is made up of incredibly intelligent, courageous, talented and dedicated athletes. UDFS practiced every chance they got and supported each other through every moment of this season and this national championship.”
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UDFS placed first out of the top three schools from each of the three U.S. Figure Skating conferences: Miami University of Ohio, Adrian College and the the University of Michigan from the Midwestern Conference, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Denver from the Western Conference, and Dartmouth College and Boston University from the Eastern Conference.
Dana Sivak, UDFS team president, said the support the team members have for each other is what truly sets them apart from the other intercollegiate teams and helped them earn their third national title in the past four years.
“The positive energy of our team, especially on competition days, helped us stay calm, confident, and excited to represent UD,” Sivak said. “We did the same thing we have done before every competition this season: trained hard, encouraged each other to continue to strive for excellence, and were really there to support each other.”
UDFS set a new record for the highest score by a team in an intercollegiate championship, earning 132 points in 24 different individual events.
UDFS earned the national championship title over Boston University, which placed second with 115.5 points, and Dartmouth College, which placed third with 114.5 points.
Sophomore skater Laura Gettier commented that the highlight of her first intercollegiate national championships was the moment UDFS discovered that they had earned the title. “Being able to stand in a huddle with everyone on the team and to share the pride of hearing Delaware’s name being called over the loudspeaker as the national champions was incredible,” she said.
The U.S. Figure Skating Intercollegiate Team Championships concluded UDFS’s 2013-14 competition season, in which they placed first every competition they entered, setting new U.S. Figure Skating Intercollegiate records at each of the competitions as the season progressed.
The team still has several events to look forward to, including an ice show, “UDare Skate for the Cure,” to be held at 3 p.m., Saturday, May 3, at the Fred Rust Arena on South Campus. The event will benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Also, there will be a banquet to honor the team’s accomplishments so far this year.
“UDFS is a truly unique and special team that I am honored to be a part of,” said first year graduate student and second year team member Kyle Herring. “Being able to represent something more than just yourself and skate for the good of your team and school with the support of your friends, teammates and coaches brings everyone’s skating up to a whole new level and makes for an incredible competition.”
The UDFS winners for the 2014 U.S. Figure Skating Intercollegiate Team Championships include the following:
- Amanda Chasten: 1st place, Low Team Maneuvers.
- Kathleen Criss: 3rd place, Junior Ladies Short Program; 1st place, Junior Ladies Freeskate; 1st place, Gold Solo Dance.
- Laura Gettier: 3rd place, International Solo Dance; 3rd place, Juvenile Ladies Freeskate; 1st place, Low Team Maneuvers.
- Kyle Herring: 1st place, Gold Solo Dance; 1st place, International Solo Dance; 3rd place, Junior Men Short Program; 4th place, Junior Men Championship Freeskate.
- Cassandra Jeandell: 1st place, Low Team Maneuvers.
- Jonathan Jerothe: 4th place, Junior Men Short Program; 3rd place, Junior Men Championship Freeskate.
- Beth Kalbach: 3rd place, Novice Ladies Short Program; 5th place, Novice Ladies Freeskate.
- Brogan Kavanagh: 4th place, Senior Ladies Freeskate.
- Christie Kievit: 5th place, Junior Ladies Championship Freeskate.
- Hannah Kimberly: 1st place, Senior Ladies Freeskate; 1st place, Intermediate Solo Dance.
- Natalie Motley: 2nd place, Junior Ladies Short Program; 1st place, Junior Ladies Championship Freeskate.
- Bryan Schaeffer: 1st place, Pre-Juvenile Men Freeskate.
- Shaun Schaeffer: 2nd place, Pre-Juvenile Men Freeskate; 1st place, Senior Solo Dance.
- Clara Sherman: 1st place, Intermediate Ladies Short Program; 4th place, Preliminary Solo Dance Group A; 3rd place, Intermediate Ladies Freeskate.
- Dana Sivak: 1st place, Preliminary Solo Dance; 4th place, Senior Ladies Short Program; 1st place, Senior Ladies Championship Freeskate; 1st place, Juvenile Solo Dance.
- Jessica Sugarman: 4th place, Junior Ladies Freeskate; 5th place, Junior Solo Dance.
- Courtney Taylor: 2nd place, Senior Ladies Short Program; 2nd place, Senior Ladies Championship Freeskate.
- Emily Young: 1st place, Low Team Maneuvers.
More information on “UDare Skate for the Cure” and JDRF can be found at this website.