The University of Delaware Collegiate Figure Skating Team (UDFS) hosted the third intercollegiate sectional competition of the season on home ice March 18-19 and came out on top.

Top East Coast rivals Boston University and Dartmouth College finished second and third, respectively.

UD rallied to the top by earning 138 points, just shy of its 143 record best. Boston followed close behind with 133 points, and Dartmouth took third place with 97 points. This is the first time in history that two schools have both scored over 130 points at one competition.

Jacob Schedl, a junior at UD, said he was especially thrilled with the turnout this weekend, not just with the team’s win, but with his personal accomplishments as well. He won each of his three events all at the same competition for the first time this season, racking up 15 points toward the team’s total.

Looking back on his experience with the team over the past three years, Schedl said, “As a junior, I've started to look as the team as more of a family.” For Schedl’s freshman and sophomore years, the team was undefeated. Coming off two second-place competitions was unusual to him. However, this past weekend proved to be a confidence booster. “We've been struggling to get our mojo back, but I think we've got it this time,” he said.

Chloe Roberts, also a junior and UDFS secretary, said, “Being on home ice is already great since you can have your family and friends there, but winning on home ice just made the competition even more enjoyable.”

UDFS is known for being a loud and proud team in the stands, and Roberts said she can attest that the competitors definitely appreciate it. “Having everyone there cheering me on really helped get me through my program; it was an awesome feeling knowing I had my team, my friends and even my family there supporting me. This season has been an uphill battle for our team but it’s made competitions way more interesting, and it has definitely made the team more motivated to keep fighting until we get that next national title.”

“This season has had a lot of ups and downs for us, and with the competitions being only a few weeks apart,” UDFS President Courtney Taylor said. “It’s very hard to stop and take a breath before we have to get started training for the next one. I am so proud of our team for pulling it together and continuing to work so hard all the time. We performed better than ever at this competition, and I was very happy to see all of our hard work finally pay off.

“I think getting our first win right before Nationals is a big confidence boost for our team, because it proves that we really can do it,” Taylor said. “We’ve known that we were capable of it all season, but Boston is a very strong team and we knew it would not be easy. It was close the entire weekend, but we continued to fight all the way through our last event. In the end, it paid off.”

UDFS holds the last four intercollegiate national titles. The top three point-earning schools in each of the three sections in the country qualify to compete at nationals each year. Once again UDFS has done just that. Taylor says, “Going into Nationals, I think we are more than ready. We have 2 more weeks to train and continue to improve and we now know that we can defend our National title this year.”

After the win at the sectional qualifying competition, the team will defend its title and strive for a five-peat at the Nationals at Miami University of Ohio in two weeks.

The UDFS winners for the University of Delaware competition include: 

• Alannah Binotto: second place, Gold Dance Group A; second place, International Dance.

• Brynn Dayton: first place, Preliminary Ladies Freeskate; second place, Low Team Maneuvers.

• Allison Fortney: seventh place, Novice Ladies Short Program Group B; third place, Medium Team Maneuvers.

• Hannah Gottfried: second place, Preliminary Dance Group A; first place, Juvenile Dance Group B; fourth place, Junior Ladies Short Program; fifth place, Junior Ladies Championship Freeskate; first place, High Team Maneuvers.

• Codie Hazen: first place, Intermediate Men’s Short Program; third place, Medium Team Maneuvers.

• Rex Lai: second place, Intermediate Men’s Short Program.

• Jenny Lin: first place, Pre-Preliminary Ladies Freeskate Group B.

• Becky Lisac: first place, Intermediate Ladies Freeskate Group A; second place, Low Team Maneuvers.

• Samantha Puhl: fourth place, Senior Ladies Championship Freeskate.

• Chloe Roberts: second place, Pre-Juvenile Ladies Freeskate Group A.

• Melissa Rosales: second place, Senior Ladies Freeskate Group B.

• Aubrie Roszell: fifth place, Junior Ladies Freeskate Group A.

• Julia Rowland: second place, Junior Ladies Freeskate Group B.

• Regina Rubino: second place, Juvenile Ladies Freeskate Group B; second place, Low Team Maneuvers.

• Jacob Schedl:  first place, Gold Dance Group B; first place, International Dance; first place, Pre-Juvenile Men’s Free Skate; third place, Medium Team Maneuvers.

• Janelle Skaden: second place, Novice Ladies Free Skate Group B; third place, Medium Team Maneuvers.

• Courtney Taylor: second place, Juvenile Dance Group A; first place, Intermediate Dance; first place, Senior Ladies Short Program Group B; second place, Senior Ladies Championship Freeskate; first place, High Team Maneuvers.

• Brooke Tripp: first place, Juvenile Ladies Freeskate Group B; third place, Medium Team Maneuvers.

• Kameron Wong: fourth place, Pre-Juvenile Ladies Freeskate Group B; third place, Senior Dance; second place, Low Team Maneuvers.

• Sumika Yamada: first place, Preliminary Dance Group B; fourth place, Senior Ladies Short Program Group A; first place, Senior Ladies Free Skate Group B; first place, High Team Maneuvers.

Supporters of the UDFS team may follow it on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook or visit the team’s crowdfunding page.