Last Saturday, the Dartmouth Figure Skating team won second place at the Cornell
University meet moving into a tie in the in eastern standings for first place along with the University of Delaware and Cornell. The team won 87 points, beating its long time rival, the University of Delaware, with a total of 75 points. Cornell won first place with 110 points. These results put Dartmouth in excellent standing for Nationals at the University of Denver. As Paola Peacock '03 said: "Although it is not official yet, it looks like we will have a spot in our 4th consecutive National Collegiate Championship."
Highlights of the day were Co-Captains Peacock and Ariel Stern-Markovitz '05 both winning gold. Stern-Markovitz won first place in all her events: Junior Short and Long programs and Pre Intermediate Dance. Peacock also had a stellar performance, winning gold in Intermediate Short and Long programs along with second place in Intermediate Dance. Victoria Lee '05 also won gold in both her Pre-Intermediate C Long Program and Compulsory Moves, while Tricia Shalka '05 took gold in her Pre-Intermediate A Long Program.
Other notable performances include Taylor Grant '06, second in Senior Long Program, Lydia Gokey '06, second in Senior Dance, Katie Collins '06, seventh in Gold Dance, Rebecca Bruccoleri '05, third in Novice Dance, Kelly Morr '05, third in Intermediate Dance, graduate student Elizabeth Colangelo, fourth in Pre-Intermediate C Long, and Margaret Thering '05, second in Pre-Intermediate B Long.
With these performances came a wonderful sense of pride for the Dartmouth team. As Stern-Markovitz said, "I am extremely pleased with everyone's performances this weekend. Coming-in ahead of the University of Delaware is an amazing accomplishment for our team. Our coaches were thrilled with our performance."
The skaters love competing at the collegiate level, enjoying a sense of teamwork while maintaining the thrill of individual competition. Collegiate skating is a wonderful opportunity to meet other skaters who balance academics and many activities outside of the sport. As Lee said, "I find there is an interesting dynamic between the collegiate teams. We view other skaters as serious competitors on the ice, but there is also an underlying acknowledgement that we are all students with interests and academic aspirations outside of figure skating."
Looking back on these outstanding performances, coach Michael McGean '49, said "We were thinking of two Dartmouth alumni, Dean Robert Binswanger our faculty adviser and Stetson Whitcher who has been our major supporter, and wishing they could have seen such a marvelous team effort."
The last qualifier for Nationals will be held at Boston University on March 1. If Dartmouth skates as well as it did, a trip to the University of Denver is well within their reach. The Dartmouth figure skaters would like nothing more than to exceed their stellar performances at Cornell, seeking an Easter Conference title at Boston University, and securing their spot at the National Collegiate Championships.
Rebecca Bruccoleri '05 is a member of the Dartmouth Figure Skating team.
