Dartmouth's figure skating team made the job easy for the U.S. National Intercollegiate Games Committee this past Sunday. Change the date on the trophy but just keep the same school name from last year.
After two days of spirited competition, the Big Green skaters walked away from host Miami of Ohio's main campus covered in medals, making it very clear that Dartmouth's figure skating dynasty is in full swing. This weekend's U.S. National Intercollegiate Figure Skating Championships truly solidified the Dartmouth program as a national powerhouse as the skaters won their second consecutive championship in extremely dominant fashion. The Big Green scored 109 points nearly doubling the totals of second place Delaware and third place Miami of Ohio who trailed with 59 and 58.5 points respectively. Dartmouth entered skaters in 22 events and managed to skate away with 11 first place medals, unheard of in a competition that boasts the best three teams from the east, midwest and west regions. In a sport where personal judgement can often at times skew the scoring, Dartmouth left little doubt in anyone's mind on Sunday about who deserved to be standing atop the podium.
Much as it was all season, the Big Green simply overpowered their competitors with their all around team performance, relying on every skater for points and contributions. This was especially evident in Sunday morning's competition, with the championship on the line, as the skaters swept the low, intermediate and high team maneuvers, a feat truly showcasing the team's depth. Along with this depth, the programs of co-captains Ariel Stern-Markovitz '05 and Taylor Grant '06 late Saturday night were described by their coaches as simply "breathtaking, exceptional performances." The two captains skated masterfully in the premier event of the competition, the long program.
Not to be outdone, Katie Collins '06 not only put her own stamp on Dartmouth's victory, but also onto Dartmouth's history by winning the Gold level dance event. With this win, she will be inducted into Dartmouth's "Wearers of the Green", a feat that only three other Dartmouth figure skaters have ever achieved. Newcomers Dan Dittrick '08 and Hallie Damon '08 overcame first time jitters to both win their respective events, making it clear that we can expect some strong performances from our skaters for years to come. Stern-Markovitz, skating in her final competition for Dartmouth, looked back on the weekend with the team as the most positive thus far: "I've been to nationals with the Figure Skating team for the past four years and this year was by far the best, both in terms of total points and team spirit. I can't think of a better way to have ended my Dartmouth skating career."
Although it was the skaters who produced on the day of the competition, much of the success can be credited to the coaching team of J. Michael McGean '49 and Loren McGean '92, both cornerstones in Dartmouth figure skating past and present. There were outstanding performances even in the very competitive high level events.
This seemed to inspire all the skaters when on Sunday morning they pulled away from Miami and Delaware, who had led Dartmouth earlier in the meet. It was simply a very impressive team effort.
The Big Green figure skaters will now get a well deserved rest, and with nearly the entire team consisting of returning underclassmen, set their eyes on another possible flawless campaign and a three-peat next year. Nicole Newman '08, one of the Big Green's top point getters, summed up next year's outlook: "Even though we're losing one of our captains our team is still very strong. Things look good for another undefeated season next year continuing in this new trend at Dartmouth."
