ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine university figure skating team won their own Thunder Country Classic finishing off the Midwest Conference season as undefeated champions. They will next take the ice when they head to Anaheim, Calif. for the 2023 U.S. National Intercollegiate Final, having officially qualified for the event as conference champions.
"What an outstanding weekend!" remarked assistant coach, Rosie Emerson, "To end the qualifying season with our biggest win of the season is wonderful, but that it happened on home ice makes it even more special. I'm so proud of the team for stepping up and skating their best while also volunteering to help the competition run smoothly."
The Thunder Country Classic kicked off at the Thunder Ice Arena on Friday, March 10 with Short Programs and the Pre-Preliminary Excel Free Skate. Trine figure skating's Julianna Foy and Brigid Guerin both competed their short programs and earned a collective 13 team points, with Foy taking the first gold medal of the competition for the team. Sage Scherzer made her intercollegiate debut, skating a strong program in the Pre-Preliminary Excel Free Skate, earning the bronze medal and 8 team points. The Thunder ended day one with 21 team points.
The Preliminary Excel Free Skate started Saturday's competition for Trine with Arya Barnes-Kelley, Celine Sanchez, and Mattie Clark all competing in the event. Barnes-Kelley and Clark each earned third place in their respective flights and Sanchez was awarded second place. Together they delivered a total of 26 team points.
Next, Harlow Shepherd skated the Preliminary Pattern Dance, the Dutch Waltz, to perfection and won a second gold medal for Trine along with 12 team points. Just a short time later, Reilly Johnson took the ice and performed beautifully in her Juvenile Free Dance, also earning a gold medal. Payton Scott earned a second-place finish and ten team points in her flight of the same event.
The Intermediate Free Dance followed, with Kellan Chwojko-Frank and Kaitlin Gunter both competing in the event. After two impressive performances, Chwojko-Frank and Gunter took first and second place respectively and earned the team 22 more points. In the Novice Free Dance, Kelsey DeLaney took second place and won ten addition team points for the Thunder.
Johnson won her second gold medal of the competition from her wonderful performance in the Pre-Juvenile Excel Free Skate. With two amazing skates, both Brie Parker and Allison Korpi earned gold medals in their flights of the Intermediate Excel Free Skate. Together, Parker and Korpi earned 22 more points for Trine.
With her strong skate in the Junior Free Dance, Julianna Stanley took second place. In the first group of the Senior Free Dance, Lainie Kuckkahn earned the sixth gold medal of the competition for Trine and in the second group, Beth Carley earned the silver medal. Stanley, Kuckkahn, and Carley earned 32 total team points for Trine with their Free Dances. To finish up the second night of competition for Trine, Allaina Werstler earned the silver medal in the Junior Excel Free Skate and eight additional team points.
The Thunder ended night two of competition in first place with 187 points.
Scott started the competition for Trine on Sunday, skating the Cha Cha in Pre-Bronze Pattern Dance. Scott was awarded second place by the judges, earning the silver medal and ten team points. Next Kaitlin Gunter skated the Tango, earning second place in the Silver Pattern Dance and also giving ten points to the team.
In the Juvenile Excel Free Skate, both of our Trine skaters gave excellent performances. Chwojko-Frank took third in Group A and Foy took the gold medal in Group B. Together, they earned the team 20 points. In the Pre-Gold Pattern Dance, the Killian, Haley Williams and Stanley both competed on behalf of Trine. Williams earned the silver medal and Stanley was awarded the bronze, giving them 14 points for the team.
Trine ended their individual competitions with two great wins from Seniors, Carley and Kuckkahn. Carley won the Gold Pattern Dance, the Argentine Tango, and Kuckkahn won the International Pattern Dance, the Cha Cha Congelado. They each earned 12 more points for Trine and Kuckkahn even earned an additional two points due to the difficulty level of her event.
To close out the competition for the Thunder, Trine's High, Intermediate, and Low Team Maneuvers skaters competed as groups against other universities. High Team (Kuckkahn, Williams, Stanley, and Brinna Russell) skated first and managed to hang on to sixth place after a couple of mistakes. Intermediate Team (Werstler, Carley, Guerin, and DeLaney) skated all elements clean and earned the gold medal in their event, marking the 12th first place finish for Trine at the competition. Low Team (Chwojko-Frank, Gunter, Foy, Sanchez, Johnson, and Claire Lightfoot) brought the energy to a packed flight, finishing third out of 17 teams and earned ten additional team points to end their competition.
Trine finished the competition in first place with a total of 292 team points, a new personal best for the program. They ended 42 points ahead of second-place finishers, Adrian College and 68 points ahead of third place, Ohio State University. Trine's medal count for the competition was 28 total including 12 Gold, ten Silver, and six Bronze. The last competition of the season for the figure skaters will have them competing against the best colleges and universities in the country at the 2023 U.S. Intercollegiate Final, hosted by UCLA in Anaheim, California from April 14th-15th.
Final team standings from the 2023 Thunder Country Classic:
1. Trine University - 292.0
2. Adrian College - 250.0
3. The Ohio State University - 224.0
4. Michigan State University - 179.5
5. University of Michigan - 170.0
6. Western Michigan University - 161.0
7. Miami University - 148.5
8. Case Western Reserve University - 116.5
9. Oakland University - 103.0
10. University of Wisconsin - 101.0
11. University of Notre Dame - 85.5
12. Kent State University - 80.0
13. Texas A&M University - 72.0
14. Wayne State University - 70.0
15. Washington University in St. Louis - 62.0
16. University of Illinois - 54.0
17. University of Minnesota - 38.0
18. Marquette University - 31.0
19. Northern Michigan University - 27.0
20. University of Iowa - 13.0
21. Saint Mary's College - 11.0
