The University of Delaware Collegiate Figure Skating Team (UDFS) recently traveled to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, for the second intercollegiate figure skating sectional competition of the season and finished with a silver medal.

The other two of the “big three” East Coast schools in collegiate figure skating, Boston University and Dartmouth College, finished first and third, respectively.

Boston totaled 125.5 points. With one start less at this meet, UD was still close behind with 124 points, leading them to settle for second place. Dartmouth finished third with 82 points.

UD freshman Hannah Gottfried said she was excited for her second competition with UDFS. She earned points for the team in five different events.

“It was a really great experience getting to compete in so many events while the team was there for each one,” Gottfried said. “The whole team, Joel and Sasha (coaches Joel McKeever and Sasha Kirsanov) were really supportive and kept me going, especially in my long. I definitely feel like I've improved after the first competition and am excited to keep improving throughout the rest of the season.”

Sophomore Samantha Puhl said she was excited for her season debut. “Being back on the ice with the team is truly amazing, encouraging, and fun in every way. It’s great to be back in the game, competing alongside a family of talented and spirited teammates. You can expect us to be the loudest and most supportive team at our home competition. There are great things coming,” she said.

“I’m really proud of how our team performed at this competition. Everyone went out there and had really awesome performances and I can’t think of anyone who didn’t improve from our first competition to this one. The support from our team was incredible all weekend and it’s so great to see everyone come together and help each other in any way that they can in order for our team to be the best that we can be.” UDFS President Courtney Taylor said. “As a team, in general, we practiced really hard leading up to this competition and we were able to increase our total points and get even closer to that first-place position. It’s so great to see everyone working hard everyday and then seeing it pay off at the competition.”

Ending up just out of first place by 1.5 points is only going to motivate the team to beat their score at the next meet, Taylor said, and with all 35 allotted starts in, that goal is not out of reach.

“It’s a short turnaround from Liberty to our home competition, but we all love skating at our rink here at UD and I think we’ll feel more comfortable competing there,” she said. “We’ll also have the extra support of our friends and family right here at our school – part of the ‘home field advantage.’ I’m really excited to see what happens and how we use this momentum going forward to our home competition.”

The final intercollegiate figure skating sectional competition will be on home ice the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, March 18-19, and the community is invited to the Fred Rust and Gold ice arenas to support the team.

The UDFS winners for the Liberty competition include:

• Alannah Binotto: second place, International Dance; fourth place, Gold Dance.

• Brynn Dayton: first place, Preliminary Ladies Freeskate; first place, Low Team Maneuvers.

• Allison Fortney: second place, Medium Team Maneuvers; seventh place, Novice Ladies Short Program.

• Hannah Gottfried: first place, Junior Ladies Short Program; first place, High Team Maneuvers; first place, Preliminary Dance Group B; fourth place, Junior Ladies Championship Freeskate; sixth place, Juvenile Dance.

• Codie Hazen: first place, Intermediate Men’s Short Program; second place, Medium Team Maneuvers.

• Rex Lai: second place, Intermediate Men’s Short Program.

• Jenny Lin: first place, Pre-Preliminary Ladies Freeskate Group B.

• Rebecca Lisac: first place, Juvenile Ladies Freeskate Group B; first place, Low Team Maneuvers.

• Samantha Puhl: fifth place, Senior Ladies Championship Freeskate.

• Chloe Roberts: first place, Pre-Juvenile Ladies Freeskate Group A.

• Melissa Rosales: third place, Senior Ladies Freeskate Group A.

• Aubrie Roszell: seventh place, Junior Ladies Freeskate.

• Julia Rowland: third place, Junior Ladies Freeskate; seventh place, Junior Ladies Short Program.

• Regina Rubino: first place; Low Team Maneuvers.

• Jacob Schedl:  first place, International Dance; second place, Gold Dance; second place, Pre-Juvenile Men’s Freeskate; second place, Medium Team Maneuvers.

• Janelle Skaden: second place, Medium Team Maneuvers.

• Courtney Taylor: first place, Senior Ladies Short Program Group A; second place, Senior Ladies Championship Freeskate; first place, Intermediate Dance; first place, High Team Maneuvers; fifth place, Juvenile Dance.

• Brooke Tripp: first place, Juvenile Ladies Freeskate Group A; second place, Medium Team Maneuvers.

• Kameron Wong: first place, Pre-Juvenile Ladies Freeskate Group B; first place, Low Team Maneuvers; second place, Senior Dance.

• Sumika Yamada: first place, Preliminary Dance Group A; first place, High Team Maneuvers; second place, Senior Ladies Freeskate Group A; third place, Senior Ladies Short Program Group B.

Those with interest can follow UDFS on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.