This weekend, the Dartmouth Figure Skating Team took first place at the Boston University Intercollegiate Figure Skating Competition.
Competing against teams from 10 other schools in the Eastern Conference, Big Green skaters blew away the field with 119 points. Boston University was second with 48 points, and the University of Delaware placed third with 47 points.
Co-captain Taylor Grant '06 led the Dartmouth skaters by winning two gold medals in the ice dance, a silver in the senior ladies' short program competition and a bronze in the long program.
After the competiton, Grant commented,"We had amazing performances across the board, earning points in every event we entered. The depth and diligence of our team this year has gotten us off to a great start, and we're eager to defend our [National Collegiate Team Championship] title." Following in the footsteps of her captain, freshman Nicole Newman also won gold in ice dance and took bronze and silver in senior short and long program.
Senior co-captain Ariel Stern-Markovitz '05 earned straight first marks in the junior ladies' short program while Holly Ponichtera '05 placed first in the junior ladies' long program. Ponichtera also took the silver in the junior short, and won silver and bronze medals in ice dance.
"We had an awesome weekend," Stern-Markovitz said. "I'm really proud of everyone, especailly our freshmen, who were some of our top point-scorers. Everyone has been working really hard so far this winter, and I'm thrilled that the work has paid off."
Also contributing to Dartmouth's dominating performance were additional first place skates by Hallie Damon '08, Tegan Vay '07 and Adrienne Lee '07.
Other top point-scorers from Dartmouth included graduate student Cynthia Chen and gold-level ice dancer Katie Collilns '06. Sophomore Katherine Kalaris successfully completed more double jumps than any other skater in the junior ladies' freestyle event. Dartmouth also swept the "team maneuvers" events by winning the high, intermediate and low levels.
The Big Green's figure skating team begins this season after an undefeated 2003-2004 campaign in which Dartmouth won the National Collegiate Team Championships, as well as every regional qualifying meet.
Last year's national championship team did not have any '04 members, so with the addition of three freshmen skaters and one more senior, the team is poised for an even stronger season than last year.
