KALAMAZOO, Mich. – This past weekend, Trine University's synchronized skating teams competed at The Kalamazoo Kick-Off Classic, bringing home record success as all three teams earned medals at the event for the first time in program history.
The Open-Collegiate team opened up the competition for Thunder on Saturday morning, skating an entertaining and fast paced program set to their Vampira inspired music. Their intersection, traveling circle, and pivot block were some of the highlights of the performance. The judges ranked their program highly, placing them in second place out of seven teams, the highest Trine's Open-Collegiate team has ever placed at this event.
Next, the Collegiate team dazzled the audience with a stellar performance of their James Bond themed program. With clean execution, Collegiate earned the silver medal and a new personal record of 84.09 points. They earned a level 4 in their synchronized spin element as well as multiple level 3 calls in their intersections, twizzle and traveling circle.
"With a jump of almost 20 points between our last competition and now, we are incredibly proud of the improvement this team has made," beamed newly hired Assistant Coach Rosie Emerson, "We're looking forward to continuing to push hard in training and see how great we can become by the end of the season".
At their first competition of the season, The Thunder's Open-Adult team skated a fun and fabulous performance to their Genie themed program, closing out the competition for the Trine contingent. Their interlocking wheel and mesmerizing circle helped the team to earn a second-place finish and the third silver medal of the competition for Trine.
The Open-Collegiate and Collegiate teams will again face the best teams in the country on Sunday, December 3rd at the 26th Annual Dr. Porter Classic competition in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Kalamazoo Kick-Off Classic Results
| Open-Collegiate | Collegiate | Open-Adult | ||
| 1. Adrian College (1, 1, 1, 2, 4) | 1. Miami University – 89.52 | 1. Lake Effect Flurries (1, 1, 1, 1, 1) | ||
| 2. Trine University (3, 2, 2, 1, 2) | 2. Trine University – 84.09 | 2. Trine University (2, 2, 2, 2, 2) | ||
| 3. Western Michigan Univ. (2, 4, 3, 3, 1) | 3. University of Michigan – 82.57 | 3. Kansas City Illusion (3, 3, 3, 3, 3) | ||
| 4. Michigan State (4, 5, 5, 4, 3) | 4. Western Michigan Univ. – 82.13 | 4. Artic Edge (4, 4, 4, 4, 4) | ||
| 5. Ohio University (7, 3, 6, 6, 5) | 5. Adrian College – 77.16 | |||
| T-6. University of Missouri (5, 6, 7, 5, 7) | 6. Michigan State University – 72.96 | |||
| T-6. University of Michigan (6, 7, 4, 7, 6) | 7. University of Illinois – 58.35 |