This Saturday, the Dartmouth Figure skating team placed second in the Boston University Regional competition to finish second overall in the Eastern Conference. Along with University of Delaware and Penn State, Dartmouth will go on to compete in the National Collegiate Figure Skating Competition March 16 in Ann Arbor, Mich. The eastern collegiate standings were determined by three qualifying competitions held at Princeton, MIT and BU. Dartmouth won second, third and second places in these competitions, respectively.
Although Dartmouth's figure skating team is just six years old, this year will be Dartmouth's third consecutive trip to nationals. "It was our goal this season to make it to Nationals, and I am thrilled that we have done so well," Ariel Stern-Markovitz '05 said.
The team provides more than just opportunites for skating -- as Victoria Lee '05 said, "Dartmouth's figure skating team shows a tremendous amount of camaraderie on and off the ice. And this is what distinguishes collegiate figure skating -- we compete individually, and this maintains the excitement of competition, but we also skate for collective points."
Darmouth's figure skaters are coached by J. Michael McGean '49 and his daughter Loren McGean '92.
Dartmouth's season was highlighted by several amazing performances. Co-captain Emily Schaller '02 was the high-scoring member of the Dartmouth team at MIT, where she placed first in both her short and long program as well as in ice dance. Tricia Shalka '05 was also a tremendous asset to the team winning gold medals at MIT and BU. Co-captain Paola Peacock '03 skated a perfect long program this weekend at MIT, as did Stern-Markovitz, who won first place in both her short and long programs at BU and Princeton.
Other notable performances include Meg Thering '05 and Lauren Brown '05, who won first and second, respectively in Pre-Intermediate B at Princeton; Rebecca Bruccoleri '05 who won second in Novice Dance at BU; Victoria Lee '05, who won second in Pre-Intermediate short at Princeton and BU; and Jeanne Franzone '05 and Kelly Morr '05, first and third, respectively in Intermediate short at Princeton.
Shelley de Alth '02 won fourth in Senior Dance at MIT, and Liz Congelado, a graduate biology student also delivered fine performances throughout the season in Pre-Intermediate C. The importance of a deep team has been crucial to the succuess of this year's squad -- as Coach Michael McGean says, "I am particularly proud of this team because everyone has contributed to its success we are the smallest team to qualify for the Nationals, but everyone will know we have been there!"
Rebecca Bruccoleri and Ariel Stern-Markovitz are members of the Dartmouth Figure Skating Team.
