Mentor, Ohio – Trine University's Open-Collegiate synchro team traveled to Ohio this weekend to compete at the Tri-State Synchronized Skating Championships and earned second place, a program-best.

Despite the team getting off to a slow start this season (they earned 6^th and 5^th place at their first two competitions) the Thunder persevered to make program history, bringing home the silver medal at their 3^rd and final competition of the season.

 "Earlier this year we struggled to fully apply ourselves in competition which resulted in less than desired results," said head coach Rachel Franchock, "But we used the experience to fuel us to work harder. We focused our training on attacking each element and clearly the team's dedication to our training paid off!"

This is the second season Trine University has offered an Open-Collegiate level synchronized skating team and in just year two, the team has grown from having nine skaters on the roster to 18.

"The growth of this team is exciting to watch" beamed Franchock, "To double in size in our second year and earn a program high placement at the end of the season, it's just incredibly special to be a part of something like this. I'm so proud of them and am looking forward to building off of this momentum for year three"

While the Open-Collegiate synchro team wrapped up their competition season this weekend, the Thunder's Collegiate level synchro team is headed to Providence, R.I. to compete at the US Synchronized Skating National Championships taking place February 26^th – 29^th. This is the first time Trine will be sending a synchro team to nationals and the Thunder will compete against 11 other Universities.