Joseph Miller '14 began the competition by taking individual gold in the junior men's short program, while Kelsey Anspach '15, Isabel Hines '13, Deborah Lee '12 and Kirsten Seagers '15 also won gold in their respective events.
Team member Maria Sperduto '14 said that Dartmouth usually competes at a high level, and that this year, Dartmouth took a natural next step in improving on last year's second-place finish at nationals.
"Dartmouth usually does well I can't remember us ever getting lower than third," Sperduto said. "[Winning] was not random. We surged ahead."
Dartmouth secured the title with an overall score of 133 points. Defending champion University of Delaware came in second with 97 points, while two-time champion Boston University finished in third place with 80 points.
"It was nice to see everyone's collective effort pay off," Seagers said. "It was time for Dartmouth domination again."
From 2004 to 2008, Dartmouth won five consecutive Intercollegiate Figure Skating Team Championship titles, but the weekend's win was the first national title for this year's group of seniors.
"Throughout the season, we had a lot of great performances," co-captain Margaret Jessiman '12 said. "We have all been training very hard. The difference between individual and collegiate skating is figuring out the perfect chemistry between your team in order to make the strongest lineup."
Jessiman noted that success at nationals was the result of a building process and the development of a different team dynamic, making for a fun and exciting season.
"This year we were thoughtful about what we could do to best prepare for nationals, and seeing that come to fruition was very rewarding," Jessiman said. "I feel like while we were at the competition, people were touching into goals we had set and mantras about how we were ready for this and the time we had put in as a group."
Prior to the national competition, Dartmouth had competed at Cornell University in the fall, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the winter and at Delaware between Winter and Spring terms.
"We started with kind of a large points gap with our biggest competitor, and with each qualifier we really closed that gap," club president and co-captain Alina Everett '12 said. "At the University of Delaware, we were just 2.5 points behind the competitor, and at that point we realized that winning nationals was possible for us."
Hines said that this season was all the more special because it was the culminating competition for head coach Jacki Smith at Dartmouth.
"It was incredible to win nationals for her last year," Hines said
Jessiman and Everett said that Smith has been instrumental in transforming the culture of the team during her tenure.
"I don't want to say recreational, but when [Smith] first got here, skating was something that you did on the side, and she helped it become a serious athletic endeavor," Everett said.
Everett said that nationals was a "nail-biter" and that the whole team was carefully monitoring the points and encouraging each other throughout the entire competition.
"It was an incredible way to finish the season," Everett said. "It was the first nationals that we had won, and we proved as a class we could do it."
Seagers also noted that the team makes an effort to be respectful and supportive of both each other and other skaters competing, which sets it apart from other teams.
"[Winning] can definitely be done separately, but we chose to be super supportive of each other," Seagers said. "It makes our team really unique."
After a four-year gap between titles, the younger members of the team are optimistic that they can continue the program's success.
"It is definitely the beginning of something good for the future," Sperduto said. "We are sad that the seniors are leaving, but you can see the future. We can do it again. We know we can lean on each other and work that hard again."
Anspach is a member of The Dartmouth Staff. Everett is a former member of The Dartmouth Senior Staff.
